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,…

Earlier today, the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision overturning a union-friendly test for independent contractor status that had been adopted by the Board during the Obama Administration. In its decision in SuperShuttle DFW Inc., the NLRB, which is now controlled by a majority of Board members appointed by…

Shortly after the issuance of the Supreme Court’s decision earlier today in New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira, some commentators have referred to it as a watershed opinion preserving the right of workers including independent contractors to have their class action cases heard in court instead of before an arbitrator. Others…

As reported six months ago in an article in the E&P Journal, the oil and gas industry is one of those that is under attack by plaintiffs’ class action lawyers filing independent contractor misclassification lawsuits. My colleagues Bill Swanstrom and Mike Rose joined me then in commenting on some…