The Chartwell Chronicles: Case Law Update
Key Workforce Trends That Shaped 2022 - And What They Mean for 2023
#WorkforceWednesday: Labor Market Imbalance, Return to Work, OSHA Enforcement Guidance - Employment Law This Week®
To Be or Not To Be (an Employer)
On May 23, 2025, a federal court denied efforts to enjoin the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) from enforcing key provisions and amendments to the Illinois Day and Temporary Labor Services Act (the “Act”) that were signed...more
Frlekin v. Apple, Inc., -- Cal. -- (2020) - Summary: The time employees spent on Apple’s premises waiting for and undergoing a mandatory exit search of personal belongings was compensable as “hours worked” under Wage...more
On February 6, 2020, in a 2-1 decision, the California Court of Appeal (Fourth District, Division Two) held that an employee's settlement agreement with a staffing agency on a wage-and-hour claim does not necessarily preclude...more
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
Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, LLC, 40 Cal. App. 5th 1239, 253 Cal. Rptr. 3d 798 (2019) - Summary: Term “regular rate of compensation” for calculating meal or rest break premium payments is not synonymous with term...more
Do you think that there is a difference between “furnishing” labor and “performing” labor? (Is there a difference between Godiva chocolate and Palmer’s?) Well, the Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma recently held that...more
On Thursday, May 2, the Ninth Circuit issued a significant decision holding that the California Supreme Court’s recent Dynamex ruling applies retroactively. Recall that in Dynamex, California’s highest court rejected a...more
Claim by Directional Drillers for Overtime Pay. The boom for domestic energy producers, particularly in the Permian Basin, has been accompanied by the companion challenge of how to compensate transient oilfield professionals...more
When an appellate opinion includes words like joint employment, special employer, general employer, lent employee, or borrowed servant, it usually means that the parties have a fundamental difference of opinion about the...more
In Duffey v. Tender Heart Home Care Agency, LLC, the California Court of Appeal for the First District addressed whether an in-home caregiver was an independent contractor or employee. Reversing a trial court order dismissing...more
This Report highlights recent cases interpreting the scope of the resale exemption, employment services, and building maintenance and janitorial services. In particular, the recent case concluding that employment services are...more
California’s prohibition against contracts that restrain a person’s ability to engage in a lawful business, profession, or trade is well-established and well-known. Ten years ago, in Edwards v. Arthur Andersen LLP (2008) 44...more
On December 28, 2018, the U.S. D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB” or “Board”) joint-employer test as articulated in Browning-Ferris Industries, 362 NLRB No. 186. ...more
On December 28, 2018, a divided Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld portions of an Obama-era standard for determining “joint employer” status under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), ultimately...more
Last month, California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal issued AMN Healthcare, Inc. v. Aya Healthcare Servs., Inc., 28 Cal. App. 5th 923 (Cal. Ct. App. 2018), a decision calling into question the validity of non-solicitation...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Based on the legal principle of res judicata, a prior class action settlement that released a staffing agency and its agents barred a subsequent class action against the staffing agency’s client....more
This month’s two key California employment law cases are both significant decisions involving wage and hour laws. Alvarado v. DART Container Corp. of Cal., 4 Cal. 5th 542 (2018) - Summary: California formula for...more
Many of you likely have filled out your March Madness bracket, and are eagerly watching game after game hoping your bracket doesn’t bust. The gig misclassification game is experiencing a March Madness of its own. The debate...more
On March 1, 2018, the Deputy Associate General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) asked the D.C. Circuit to revive its review of the Obama-era Browning-Ferris Industries, 362 NLRB No. 186 (2015) (“BFI”)...more
On Thursday, March 9, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held long-awaited oral arguments in Browning-Ferris International v. NLRB. The case will be critical in defining joint employment...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The New York Court of Appeals’ ruling on questions regarding the use of criminal convictions in hiring will impact employers and may impact the background screening industry, the temporary staffing...more
In the last few years, there has been a significant spike in the number of lawsuits challenging employer use of criminal background checks, including class action lawsuits brought under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. ...more
Time and time again, human resource professionals get blank stares when they ask managers for documentation supporting their strong desire to get rid of an employee they consider to be a poor performer. Not having prepared...more
Most employers using temporary workers from an employment agency assume that they are liable as employers for certain legal claims. While a reasonable assumption, until last week, this status had never been formally...more
On July 14, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit decided Instant Technology, LLC v. DeFazio. The decision was widely expected to address the current split in the Northern District of Illinois on whether two...more