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Employer Liability Issues Franchisors Independent Contractors

Lewitt Hackman

Franchisor 101: Duty of Care

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The Texas Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s decision against a franchisor based on a theory of negligence after a customer was assaulted by an employee of the franchisee. The court concluded that franchisor did not owe a...more

Foley Hoag LLP

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rules 7-Eleven Franchisees Are Not Employees

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On September 5, 2024, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) ruled in Patel v. 7-Eleven that 7-Eleven franchisees are not employees of the franchisor under the independent contractor statute. The SJC looked beyond...more

Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP

Supreme Judicial Court Rules That Typical Franchise Operators Are Independent Contractors, Not Employees

On September 5, 2024, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) held that 7-Eleven franchisees operating in a “typical” franchisor-franchisee relationship were independent contractors and not “employees” of 7-Eleven,...more

Lathrop GPM

Maine Federal Court Grants Franchisor’s Motion to Dismiss Age Discrimination Claim Brought by Franchisee’s Independent Contractor

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A federal court in Maine granted a franchisor’s motion to dismiss claims asserting that a franchisor was liable for its franchisee’s alleged age discrimination in employment. Goodwill v. Anywhere Real Est., 2023 WL 4034372...more

Fisher Phillips

7-Eleven Franchise Owners Not Deemed Employees Under Massachusetts Law

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A federal court recently ruled that 7-Eleven franchise owners are not employees of the franchisor, the latest development in a long-running legal saga challenging their status as independent contractors. However, this...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Eleventh Circuit Serves a Whopper of a Ruling on Franchisor’s ‘No-Poach’/‘No-Hire’ Agreement With Franchisees

​​​​​​​Over the last several years, business-to-business “no-hire” and “no-poach” agreements have come under legal attack, including through enforcement actions by the Federal Trade Commission and criminal prosecutions by the...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

A Franchisee-Franchisor Relationship Cannot Be A Defense In An Independent Contractor Action

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When a company issues franchises, and the workers (in this case janitors) claim they are not independent contractors and sue the franchise company, can that “relationship” be posited as a defense?...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Home Health Care, Franchise, and Food Industries Under Attack: April 2022 IC Legal News Update

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Three industries suffered setbacks last month in independent contractor misclassification cases, while another targeted industry targeted scored a success. As we have reported in many prior blog posts, class action lawyers...more

Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP

Massachusetts SJC Holds that Independent Contractor Statute Applies to Franchisees

On March 24, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) determined that the Massachusetts independent contractor statute (G. L. c. 149, § 148B) applies within the franchisor-franchisee context and does not...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Patel, et al. v. 7-Eleven, Inc., et al – While the Massachusetts’ Independent Contractor Statute May Apply to Franchise...

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Seyfarth Synopsis: On March 24, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) issued a much-anticipated decision in Patel, et al. v. 7-Eleven, Inc., et al. answering a certified question from the United States Court...more

Foley Hoag LLP

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rules that Independent Contractor Test Applies to Franchisees

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On March 24, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled in Patel v. 7-Eleven that the test for independent contractor status set forth in the Massachusetts independent contractor statute applies to the...more

Lathrop GPM

The Franchise Memorandum - Issue # 262

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California Supreme Court Applies Independent Contractor Standard Retroactively; Does Not Reach Applicability to Franchises - The California Supreme Court has held that its Dynamex decision applies retroactively, answering...more

Lewitt Hackman

Franchisor 101: AB 5’s Preemptive Strike

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Franchisors faced unprecedented challenges in 2020. Enactment of California’s Assembly Bill 5 on January 1, 2020 was just the tip of an iceberg. As the COVID-19 pandemic upended franchise systems across all industries,...more

Lewitt Hackman

Competing Tests: Employee or Independent Contractor? Saving the Franchise Model

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Download PDF Assembly Bill 5 took effect in California on January 1, 2020 and governs when a business can treat a worker as an employee as opposed to an independent contractor. Under AB5 and its “ABC” test, a hiring entity...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

The Relationship Talk: DOL Issues New Rules on Joint Employer Status

When do your business relationships make you a joint employer? Fortunately, the DOL recently published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with changes to regulations regarding when two or more entities should be treated as...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Class Action Trends Report Fall 2019

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Our quarterly report takes a look back at the most significant class action developments over the last year, including litigation trends, court decisions, and legislative and regulatory changes that are certain to invite...more

Lewitt Hackman

Franchise 101: California Assembly Bill 5 (2019)

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California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 5 (“AB-5”). AB-5 codifies into California’s Labor Code the “ABC test” for determining employee or independent contractor status, as adopted by the California...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

August and September 2019 Independent Contractor Misclassification and Compliance News Update

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There were several notable court and administrative cases over the past two months, but they were overshadowed by a legislative matter: the enactment of Assembly Bill 5 in California, which was the subject of our September...more

Lewitt Hackman

Franchisor 101: Franchisor Can Be Liable as “Employer” for Missclassifying Workers

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The Ninth Circuit sent shockwaves through the franchise industry in ruling that last year’s California Supreme Court decision broadening who may bring wage misclassification claims (Dynamex v. Superior Court) applied...more

Alston & Bird

Vazquez v. Jan-Pro: A Clean Sweep for Employees?

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In the California judiciary, the present affects the past. Our Labor & Employment Group discusses why the Ninth Circuit held that the California Supreme Court’s Dynamex ruling applies retroactively....more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Ninth Circuit Expands Reach of Dynamex, Holding ABC Test Retroactive

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Seyfarth Synopsis: In 2018 the California Supreme Court issued its radical Dynamex decision, discussed in our One Minute Memo here. Now the Ninth Circuit has piled on, holding in Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising, International,...more

FordHarrison

Ninth Circuit Applies Dynamex Retroactively

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In 2018, the California Supreme Court adopted the “ABC test” for determining whether workers are independent contractors under California wage orders (the Dynamex decision). For a discussion of that decision....more

Fisher Phillips

January 2019: The Top 16 Labor And Employment Law Stories

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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 for the past few years—and this past month...more

Snell & Wilmer

Drafting Franchise Agreements After Patterson v. Domino’s : Avoiding the Minefield of Vicarious Liability and Joint Employment

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Lauded as one of the most important franchise cases in the recent past, Patterson v. Domino’s established a new standard for addressing vicarious liability issues in California. In reaching its decision that Domino’s was not...more

Bond Schoeneck & King PLLC

The NLRB’s Browning-Ferris Decision Significantly Lowers the Standard For Who Is a Joint Employer Under the NLRA

In Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc., the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”), in a 3-2 decision, expanded who may be considered a joint employer under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or...more

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