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Independent Contractors Employee Definition Class Action

Independent contractors are individuals or entities that perform work for other individuals or entities, but are not employees of those individuals or entities. Whether a worker is an employee or an independent... more +
Independent contractors are individuals or entities that perform work for other individuals or entities, but are not employees of those individuals or entities. Whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor is not always an easy determination. However, due to differences in tax and liability treatment, misclassifying an employee as an independent contractor can have serious consequences. Autonomy is the defining feature of independent contractor arrangements. Independent contractors control the manner and method of how work is performed while payers control the desired result. Control over schedule and number of hours worked, ownership of equipment or tools, permanency of relationship, and acceptance of jobs from multiple entities are all possible factors in determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor.   less -
Troutman Pepper Locke

Home Improvement and Legal Services Industries Under Attack for Independent Contractor Misclassification Claims: June 2025 IC...

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Last month, there were only a couple of legal developments in the area of independent contractor (IC) compliance and misclassification, but they were significant because two more industries — home improvement and legal...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Republican-Backed Congressional Proposal in Congress Seeks to Allow Companies to Offer Benefits to Independent Contractors: April...

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Last month, the most significant legal development in the area of independent contractor (IC) compliance and misclassification was on Capitol Hill. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a Senate Republican who chairs the Senate Health,...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Artificial Intelligence Industry Faces Independent Contractor Misclassification Claim: December 2024 IC Legal News Update

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As the business of artificial intelligence is expanding, it seemed it was only a matter of time before the AI industry became the subject of an independent contractor misclassification lawsuit. Last month, one of the leading...more

Buchalter

Beauty is Pain: Lessons and Trends Impacting the Beauty Industry and Employment Law Concerns for 2025 and Beyond

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It was a normal, busy day at Young’s Nail Spa in Temecula, California, when the nail salon was abruptly hit with a $1.2 million fine by the California Labor Commissioner after an investigation found that 36 workers were...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

The Department of Labor Issues New Final Rule for Independent Contractor Classification

On January 10, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) published its final rule that revises its guidance regarding the standard for assessing whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP - Left Coast Appeals

This Week at The Ninth: Class Certification and Misclassification

This week, the Court takes a close look at the standards for certifying a class action under Rule 23 and for classifying someone as an employee or independent contractor under California law. ...more

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Successful Dismissal for Delay Under the Class Proceedings Act: Ontario Court Examines New Automatic Dismissal Provision

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In Bourque v Insight Productions, 2022 ONSC 174, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (the “Court”) dismissed a proposed class proceeding for delay. The decision is noteworthy as it’s the first reported decision that...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Déjà Vu in the Independent Contractor Misclassification Arena: August 2021 News Update

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The first three cases reported below regarding legal developments in August 2021 have four common denominators: the defendants are all large gig economy companies; plaintiffs’ class action counsel is the same; the lawsuits...more

CDF Labor Law LLP

Independent Contractors Denied Class Action Status Under the Dynamex ABC Test

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In a rare victory for employers, a California Court of Appeal in Wilson v. The La Jolla Group, 2021 WL 940283 (3/12/2021) affirmed the trial court’s denial of class certification of independent contractors’ wage and hour...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Polar Opposites Among Independent Contractor Tests: September 2020 News Update

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Last month presented a clash between the enactment of a new version of the most restrictive state law test in the nation for independent contractor status and the issuance of a proposed federal regulation that would create...more

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC

DOL Proposes Independent Contractor Rule Shielding Companies from Costly Federal Misclassification Claims

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On September 22, 2020, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) unveiled a new, proposed rule for classifying workers as either independent contractors or employees. This is important because employees are covered by the federal...more

Robins Kaplan LLP

Financial Daily Dose 5.6.2020 | Top Story: California Sues Uber and Lyft Over Alleged Violations of State’s New Gig-worker...

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California has sued ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft over alleged violations of a new state law that requires companies to treat gig workers as employees “if they control how workers perform tasks or if the work is a...more

Robinson+Cole Class Actions Insider

Ninth Circuit Reverses Class Action Settlement Based on Notice Concerns and Insufficient Scrutiny

Class action settlements are complicated. They often take months to negotiate. The last thing the lawyers or their clients on either side want to happen is for the trial court to deny approval or, even worse, for an appellate...more

Genova Burns LLC

Third Circuit Decision Threatens Rideshare Company’s Right to Arbitrate

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The Third Circuit recently opened the door to exempting Uber drivers from the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”). In a precedential decision, the Court of Appeals vacated a District Court’s decision compelling arbitration of an...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

Robins Kaplan LLP

Financial Daily Dose 9.12.2019 | Top Story: Purdue Pharma Reaches Tentative Comprehensive Opioid Crisis Settlement

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The White House is reportedly nearing a nationwide ban on most flavored e-cigarettes, a direct response to the recent spate of vaping-related illnesses that have affected hundreds across the country....more

Troutman Pepper Locke

July 2019 Independent Contractor Misclassification and Compliance News Update

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We are often asked, what industries are impacted by independent contractor misclassification? While IC misclassification claims are most prevalent in the construction, transportation, and gig economy businesses, there are...more

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

In Case You Missed It…New Employment Laws in Effect for 2019 (Part 2)

As we collect the legal developments that every employer will need to know for 2020, we wanted to provide a recap of the most important employment law changes that took place for 2019.  In Part I of this article we examined...more

Fisher Phillips

When Does A $20 Million Settlement Feel Like A Bargain? Uber Shows You How

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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

Littler

Ontario, Canada Companies Beware: Class Action Lawsuits Alleging Worker Misclassification are on the Rise

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It appears there is a movement afoot in Ontario to change behavior around the classification of employees as independent contractors. ...more

Fisher Phillips

Oldest Nationwide Misclassification Case Against Uber Gets Settled For $1.3M

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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

Troutman Pepper Locke

December 2018 Independent Contractor Misclassification and Compliance News Update

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There were only a handful of independent contractor misclassification cases of significance in December, but each of those matters relate to the subject of prior comprehensive posts on this blog....more

BCLP

Recharacterization of the relationship between a delivery driver and a digital platform as an employment agreement : a real risk...

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In a judgment dated 28 November 2018, the French Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation) ruled for the first time on the characterization of the agreement between a deliverer and a digital platform. The French Supreme Court granted...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Are Independent Contractor Classifications Becoming “Safer”? In a Word – No.

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As we will describe in this and its companion article, if you are an employer viewing such classifications optimistically in light of some recent legal developments, you should do so fully aware of the attendant perils....more

Fisher Phillips

State Court Concludes ABC Test Should Be Applied Retroactively

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You remember the game-changing, earth-shattering, monumental decision from the California Supreme Court a few months ago that fundamentally changes the test to determine whether your workers are independent contractors or...more

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