Ride-sharing giant Uber Technologies announced by way of a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it has reached agreements to resolve the independent contractor (IC) classification claims of a large majority of the 60,000 drivers in the U.S. who have filed arbitration demands or indicated an…

Earlier today, the U.S. Department of Labor issued an Opinion Letter on the issue of independent contractor status of an on-demand virtual marketplace company (VMC) that refers end-market consumers to service providers who offer delivery, transportation, shopping, moving, cleaning, plumbing, painting, and household services. The Labor Department examined six factors…

Cases reported below for this past month show that large companies remain in the crosshairs of class action lawyers representing workers in independent contractor misclassification lawsuits. Two well-known industry leaders in the retail and insurance industries were sued in Texas and Illinois. The claim against the retailer alleges that it…

Companies that operate their businesses on an independent contractor model or supplement their workforce with ICs are likely to be asking, “Does the proposed new joint employer regulation issued by the U.S. Department of Labor have any impact on independent contractors?”  The answer is yes.

While the Labor Department’s proposed…

Yesterday, the first $100-million settlement of an independent contractor misclassification case suddenly became a $20-million deal, but on the same day a nine-figure settlement in another case took its place.

As reported in our blog post on April 22, 2016, Uber Technologies had reached a $100-million proposed settlement with about…

One need only glance at the court cases we report on below to understand why some businesses choose to settle independent contractor misclassification cases.  Three of these cases highlight the unpredictable approaches appellate courts have taken in deciding IC misclassification cases.

To illustrate, in February, one federal appellate court reversed…

This past month may well be regarded as one of the more legally satisfying for businesses using independent contractors.  Courts issued three decisions in favor of companies on the issue as to whether certain workers are ICs or employees: the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit found insurance…

For the past 18 months, insurance companies have been holding their collective breath to see if an appellate court would affirm or reverse an Ohio federal district court decision concluding that thousands of current and former agents for American Family Insurance Company were employees and not independent contractors under ERISA,…