The evidentiary phase of the Grubhub misclassification trial ended last week; now the gig economy world waits with baited breath for a final ruling. For those unfamiliar with the situation, this could be the first time the...more
As readers of this blog know, we are right in the midst of one of the most significant legal developments for the gig economy. For the first time, a judge is being asked to definitely decide at trial whether a typical...more
9/13/2017
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Cross Examination ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employment Litigation ,
Evidence ,
Gig Economy ,
GrubHub ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
On-Demand Services ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA)
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes each month in 2017. August was no...more
9/9/2017
/ Affirmative Action ,
Appeals ,
Audio Recording ,
Class Action ,
Classification ,
College Admissions ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EEO-1 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Gig Economy ,
Green Cards ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Hurricane Harvey ,
Identity Theft ,
Independent Contractors ,
NLRB ,
On-Demand Services ,
Online Platforms ,
Over-Time ,
Pay Data ,
Popular ,
Standing ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions ,
Vetting ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wellness Programs
Josh Eidelson from Bloomberg reported that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against gig economy mainstay Handy earlier this week, alleging that the on-demand workers who provide home cleaning...more
Earlier this week, I wrote an article about a recent NLRB decision where the Board found a group of workers who provide video content services for the display board at Minnesota Timberwolves basketball games to be incorrectly...more
Chalk this round up to the unions. In a pair of decisions issued last week, a Seattle federal judge ruled that Seattle’s January 2016 Ordinance that seeks to allow for-hire drivers to form unions and collectively bargain with...more
8/30/2017
/ Appeals ,
Chamber of Commerce ,
Corporate Counsel ,
DPPA ,
Drivers ,
First Amendment ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Local Ordinance ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Ridesharing ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions
In a ruling sure to leave businesses and gig economy companies crying foul, the National Labor Relations Board concluded that workers producing electronic video display content for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves were...more
8/30/2017
/ Basketball ,
Classification ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
NBA ,
NLRB ,
Popular ,
Union Organizers
Bloomberg BNA reporter Madison Alder has written an eye-opening article that suggests the possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could force many gig economy workers to abandon their freelance lifestyle and secure...more
A federal court judge in North Carolina last week granted permission to a group of Uber drivers challenging the company’s classification structure to band together and proceed with a class action lawsuit against the...more
7/19/2017
/ Class Action ,
Conditional Certification ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Minimum Wage ,
Misclassification ,
Over-Time ,
Popular ,
Uber ,
Wage and Hour
Gig employers returning from the Fourth of July holiday were in for a rude awakening when they learned about the fireworks that just went down in a California federal court. Right before the holiday weekend, Judge Jacqueline...more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While it always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, the last few months have seen an unprecedented number of changes. June 2017 was no different, with...more
7/7/2017
/ Administrative Interpretation ,
Advocate Health Care v Stapleton ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Church Plans ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Discrimination ,
Electronic Records ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Interlocutory Appeals ,
Joint Employers ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Microsoft v Baker ,
Minimum Salary ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
NLRB ,
Opinion Letter ,
OSHA ,
Over-Time ,
Popular ,
Public Accommodation ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Title III ,
Travel Ban ,
Trump v Hawaii ,
Trump v International Refugee Assistance Project ,
Uber ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Website Accessibility ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Late last week, NPR aired a story discussing the governmental efforts to bring portable benefits to gig workers...more
Back in October, we reported that there appeared to be the first crack in the wall when it came to classifying Uber drivers as employees instead of independent contractors. At that time, it was reported that the New York...more
6/20/2017
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Definition ,
Employees ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Sharing Economy ,
Uber ,
Unemployment Benefits
Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Labor dropped a bit of a bombshell when it announced the immediate withdrawal of two informal guidance letters issued back when President Obama governed the executive branch. The 2015...more
6/12/2017
/ Administrative Interpretation ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) ,
Misclassification ,
Wage and Hour
In a welcome development for employers, Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced today that the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) was immediately withdrawing guidance published during the Obama administration that had...more
6/8/2017
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Interpretive Opinions ,
Joint Employers ,
Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) ,
Misclassification ,
NLRA ,
Obama Administration ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Trump Administration
Gig economy companies in Texas were on the receiving end of two pieces of good news in the last several weeks. Most recently, the state legislature passed and the governor signed into law a bill that will all but assure...more
According to a great article by Tyrone Richardson in Bloomberg BNA, it appears that the concept of portable benefits for gig workers is a step closer to reality. Richardson reports that Congress is “seeking ways to fill the...more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While it always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, the last few months have seen an unprecedented number of changes. April 2017 was another month...more
5/5/2017
/ Computer Programmers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Drivers ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Facebook ,
Gig Economy ,
H-1B ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration Reform ,
Independent Contractors ,
LGBTQ ,
Misclassification ,
NLRB ,
Obscenity ,
On-Demand Services ,
OSHA ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Salary/Wage History ,
SCOTUS ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
State Labor Laws ,
Subpoenas ,
Title VII ,
Tribal Employees ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions ,
USCIS ,
Young Lawyers
I wrote an article yesterday about the new law that is about to be signed by Florida Governor Rick Scott that will ensure ride-sharing drivers are classified as independent contractors and not employees. You can check out the...more
4/27/2017
/ Drivers ,
Flexible Work Arrangements ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Exclusive Work Arrangements ,
Ridesharing ,
Sharing Economy ,
State and Local Government ,
Written Agreements
The state of Florida is about to enact first-of-its-kind legislation that will ensure most ride-sharing drivers are independent contractors and not employees, eliminating costly misclassification battles and providing a...more
Ruling In Favor Of Independent Contractor Status Provides Boost To Gig Economy -
A federal appeals court in New York handed a massive victory to a car service enterprise yesterday, ruling that a group of workers...more
This is a big deal The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals came down in favor of a sharing economy business in a misclassification case yesterday, ruling that a group of black-car drivers were independent contractors and not...more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While it always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, the last few months have seen an unprecedented number of changes. March 2017 was another month...more
4/11/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Banks ,
Blacklist ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
E-Verify ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Gender Identity ,
IDEA ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Lyft ,
Misclassification ,
NLRB ,
NLRB v SW General ,
NYDFS ,
OSHA ,
Popular ,
Portal ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Presidential Appointments ,
Protests ,
Ridesharing ,
SCOTUS ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Senate Confirmation Hearings ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Sharing Economy ,
Title VII ,
Transparency ,
Travel Ban ,
Trump Administration ,
Uber ,
Volks Rule ,
WARN Act
We’ve written before about a proposal in New York that would permit gig companies to pay into a benefit fund for workers allowing them freedom to develop portable benefits; now, Washington state is considering a similar...more
If the City of Seattle has its way, your next ride-sharing driver could be part of a first-of-its-kind union. And if on-demand economy companies have their way, the courts will block any such unionization efforts before they...more
3/25/2017
/ Chamber of Commerce ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Free Speech ,
Freedom of Association ,
Independent Contractors ,
Local Ordinance ,
NLRA ,
On-Demand Services ,
Preemption ,
Price-Fixing ,
Ridesharing ,
Sharing Economy ,
Sherman Act ,
State and Local Government ,
Uber ,
Unions