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Employment Litigation Franchisors

Lathrop GPM

Supreme Court of Texas Holds Franchisor Lacked Control Over Franchisee Sufficient to Create Duty of Care to Customer that Alleged...

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The Supreme Court of Texas recently ruled that franchisor Massage Heights did not owe a duty of care to a massage customer who alleged a sexual assault, because, among other reasons, Massage Heights had neither the...more

Polsinelli

Landmark Texas Supreme Court Case Finds No “Direct Liability” for Franchisor Arising Out of Franchisee Employee’s Actions

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On May 2, 2025, the Texas Supreme Court reversed a Texas Court of Appeals’ decision that had affirmed a jury’s verdict finding a franchisor directly liable to the customer of a franchisee for actions undertaken by the...more

Lewitt Hackman

Franchisor 101: Joint Employer? Check √

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A Maryland federal district court denied a restaurant franchisor’s motion to dismiss, concluding that a restaurant manager at a franchised location alleged sufficient facts to support a finding that the franchisor is a joint...more

Lathrop GPM

Eleventh Circuit Affirms in Part, Reverses in Part, District Court Determination to Blue Pencil and Enforce Noncompete Agreement

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The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed in part, and vacated in part, a district court’s issuance of an injunction preventing a franchisor’s enforcement of a noncompete covenant as written but allowing...more

CDF Labor Law LLP

[Webinar] What is Happening at the NLRB? What Companies Should Know - October 24th, 10:00 am - 11:00 am PT

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Join CDF partners John Giovannone and Carolina Schwalbach for a one-hour in-depth review of the recent McLaren Macomb, Cemex and Stericycle NLRB decisions and their potential impact on union and non-union employers. If you...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

Lewitt Hackman

Franchisee 101: No Joint Employer, No Cry

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A federal district court in New York dismissed workplace harassment and retaliation claims against corporate affiliates of the Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill franchisor for damages as a result of workplace harassment...more

Lewitt Hackman

Franchisor 101: Salon Franchisor Weaved into Joint Employment Claims

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A Michigan federal district court denied a franchisor’s motion to dismiss claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Michigan law, and claims alleging retaliatory termination and sexually hostile work...more

Lathrop GPM

Ninth Circuit Affirms Decision that Franchisees Are Not Employees of Franchisor

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The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a decision that a group of franchisees are not employees of their franchisor, even though the trial court failed to apply the correct test. Haitayan v. 7-Eleven, Inc., 2022...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

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

Fisher Phillips

Massachusetts Franchise Owner-Operators May Be Employees of Franchisors

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The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court just held that 7-Eleven franchisees may be employees of 7-Eleven under Massachusetts wage and hour law. The March 24 decision in Dhananjay Patel v. 7-Eleven, Inc. will have significant...more

Snell & Wilmer

The NLRB Just Made It Harder To Lasso Franchisors And Affiliated Businesses For The Alleged Sins Of Their Compatriots

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In 2015, the NLRB adopted a more relaxed standard for determining when an entity could be considered a joint employer and thus liable for alleged workplace wrongs along with a direct employer. Of course the result of the...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

5 Key Trends For Workplace Class Action Litigation For 2019: Trend #3 Governmental Enforcement Litigation Trends In 2019

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Seyfarth Synopsis: The third key trend from our 16th Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report involves governmental enforcement litigation, including an overview of priorities and filings by the EEOC, the U.S....more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

What the Labor Department's New Joint Employer Rule Means for Employers in the Carolinas

The U.S. Department of Labor’s new joint employment regulations appear to provide franchisors and some other contractual business arrangements with protections against wage claims from workers not employed by them. However,...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

McDonald’s Fries Franchise Workers’ Claims, Lands Whopper of a Ruling for Franchisors

In an important wage-and-hour decision for franchisors, Salazar, et al. v. the McDonald’s Corp., et al., the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that employees of one of the hamburger giant’s California-based franchisees...more

BCLP

New California Law Disrupts Franchise Relationships

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Winter is coming for franchisors in California.  Last year, the California Supreme Court decided to hold California businesses liable for the violation of Massachusetts labor statutes when it adopted the ABC test for...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

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

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Franchises Continue to Face Litigation Over Employee ‘No-Poaching' Agreements

Several years ago, state attorneys general began investigating claims of antitrust violations based on franchise agreements that required franchisees not to hire employees of another franchisee. Despite the regular use of...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Federal Court Serves Up Satisfying Seconds For California Franchisors: No Ostensible Agency Liability For Franchisees’ Alleged...

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Seyfarth Synopsis: A federal court in California recently held that a franchisor cannot be held liable for labor code claims where it did not exercise control directly, or through an actual agency relationship with the...more

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