According to Bloomberg Law’s weekly “Punching In” column (an absolute must-read each week) that published today, some congressional leaders are not too pleased with the Labor Department after it published an opinion letter a...more
5/20/2019
/ Administrative Interpretation ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
Misclassification ,
Opinion Letter ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Wage and Hour
It’s been a roller coaster two weeks for gig economy companies. On April 29, the U.S. Department of Labor handed gig economy companies a nice outcome by issuing an opinion letter confirming that typical gig workers are,...more
5/15/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Relations ,
Misclassification ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Uber
Janet Dhillon’s confirmation as the new Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) earlier this week will have an impact on employers in more ways than one. Besides installing an agency head that is seemingly...more
There’s no way to sugarcoat this one. Yesterday the 9th Circuit handed a big loss to gig economy companies by concluding that last year’s Dynamex decision from the California Supreme Court and its wide-reaching ABC test...more
In a major positive development for gig economy businesses, the U.S. Department of Labor issued an opinion letter yesterday confirming that certain workers providing work for a virtual marketplace company are, indeed,...more
In a highly anticipated move, the U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to consider a trio of cases that will determine whether the nation’s most prominent workplace discrimination statute prohibits employment discrimination...more
4/22/2019
/ Altitude Express Inc v Zarda ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Certiorari ,
Civil Rights Act ,
EEOC v RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gender Identity ,
LGBTQ ,
SCOTUS ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII
Great news for gig economy businesses from an Illinois federal court: a judge recently ruled that Grubhub’s delivery drivers were not operating in “interstate commerce,” and therefore were not excluded from the company’s...more
4/16/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employment Contract ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Gig Economy ,
GrubHub ,
Independent Contractors ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Misclassification ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
New Prime v Oliveira ,
Transportation Industry
Despite a 10 percent overall drop in the number of charges of employment discrimination, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission just reported that sexual harassment charges filed with the agency jumped by 13.6 percent...more
The U.S. Department of Labor just became the latest federal agency to propose a rule to limit the scope of joint employment liability, this time for wage and hour matters. If the rule released earlier yesterday is adopted in...more
4/2/2019
/ Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. ,
Comment Period ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Joint Employers ,
Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) ,
NLRB ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Proposed Rules ,
Terms and Conditions ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
Last week, we shared with you the news of Uber’s proposed $20 million settlement to resolve a long-running misclassification claim – the parties agreed to the deal, and they just needed the approval of a federal court judge....more
There seems to be growing momentum in Washington, D.C. to establish a national paid leave program, but – as with most things in the nation’s capital – there seem to be differing views on how to accomplish this stated goal of...more
When the news broke yesterday that Uber had agreed to pay a group of drivers $20 million to settle a long-running misclassification claim, you could be forgiven for thinking that the deal sounded like a massive blow to the...more
The $100 million settlement announced Monday by a transportation company to resolve a long-running misclassification claim might be the direct result of a January Supreme Court decision, and might be a troubling harbinger of...more
3/13/2019
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Commercial Truck Drivers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Contract ,
Exceptions ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Independent Contractors ,
Motion to Compel ,
New Prime v Oliveira ,
Question of Arbitrability ,
Reaffirmation ,
SCOTUS
A federal judge in Washington D.C. sent shockwaves through the employment law community late last night by reinstating a revised version of the EEO-1 report, which is now once again set to gather compensation information from...more
Regular readers of this blog know about the Grubhub gig economy misclassification litigation. The quick version: Grubhub squared off with a former driver, Raef Lawson, in the nation’s first-ever gig economy misclassification...more
3/4/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Appeals ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employee Definition ,
Gig Economy ,
GrubHub ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Wage and Hour
For all of the progressive legal advances in the area of pay equity we have seen across the country in recent years, a new report just released by an economic thinktank suggests that the wage gap is not only still present,...more
You can have the best independent contractor agreement in the world. You can hire the best gig economy lawyers in the country (ask us, we have some ideas) to draft the absolute crown jewel of a document for you, capturing the...more
2/27/2019
/ ADEA ,
Age Discrimination ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Economic Realities Test ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Race Discrimination ,
Title VII
After the Supreme Court ruled a few weeks ago that independent contractors working “in interstate commerce” were exempt from arbitration pacts due to a broad interpretation of the Federal Arbitration Act (New Prime v....more
2/20/2019
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Employment Contract ,
Exceptions ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Motion to Compel ,
New Prime v Oliveira ,
Question of Arbitrability ,
Reaffirmation ,
SCOTUS
I recently wrote about the January 25 decision from the National Labor Relations Board that makes it easier for businesses to classify their workers as independent contractors (SuperShuttle DFW, Inc.). In a nutshell, now that...more
In a significant ruling which will benefit companies, the National Labor Relations Board on January 25th, revised the test it uses for determining whether workers are employees or independent contractors by making it easier...more
The matchup is now set: the Los Angeles Rams will be playing the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII, and no doubt your employees are very much aware of the upcoming game. A good many of them will be among the estimated...more
My colleagues Andy Scott and Felix Digilov reported on last week’s Supreme Court decision that rejected a trucking company’s effort to force its drivers to arbitrate their wage and hour claims against the company, despite the...more
1/23/2019
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Commercial Truck Drivers ,
Employment Contract ,
Exceptions ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Motion to Compel ,
New Prime v Oliveira ,
Question of Arbitrability ,
Reaffirmation ,
SCOTUS
As of Saturday, the current federal government shutdown became the longest in our nation’s history—and employers are starting to feel the sting. While the peculiarities of the federal budget process meant that this shutdown...more
1/14/2019
/ Anti-Deficiency Act ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
E-Verify ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Budget ,
Federal Contractors ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
Government Agencies ,
Government Shutdown ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS ,
Visas ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
The next shot has been fired in the long-running misclassification dispute between plaintiff Raef Lawson and gig economy giant Grubhub, as the company filed its Answering Brief with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals late...more
1/11/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Appeals ,
Appellate Briefs ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Gig Economy ,
GrubHub ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Code ,
Lawson ,
Misclassification ,
Reimbursements ,
Retroactive Application
The first-ever national misclassification case brought against Uber has now been put to bed. A federal court judge in North Carolina yesterday gave her blessing on a $1.3 million settlement wrapping up the litigation, handing...more
1/4/2019
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Class Action ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Uber ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour