Independent insurance sales agents have been treated as independent contractors for decades. But recently, class action lawyers have begun to target insurance companies with claims that insurers have misclassified these sales agents as ICs instead of employees. These lawsuits allege that insurance companies have violated wage and hour, employee benefit,…

Last month, half of the cases that came to our attention in the area of independent contractor misclassification and compliance involved interesting issues concerning arbitration – and lessons for companies seeking to limit class action lawsuits by those they classify as ICs.

The first case involved an IC agreement that…

Last month was a busy and important month for IC misclassification and compliance law. Featured among the ten cases summarized below are the first-ever trial of an IC misclassification case in the on-demand, sharing economy (Lawson v. GrubHub Holdings, Inc.); oral argument before a state’s highest court over…

Earlier today, GrubHub, Inc. won its highly publicized case brought against it by a restaurant delivery driver / courier for allegedly misclassifying him as an independent contractor. The case drew sustained media attention during a non-jury trial in federal court in September 2017, as it was the first IC misclassification…

The California Supreme Court will hear oral argument tomorrow in a case that has the potential for altering the long-standing test in California for independent contractor status. The case is Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court (No. S222732), which has been on appeal before the California Supreme Court since…

There were seven noteworthy cases in the area of independent contractor misclassification and compliance in January 2018 involving drivers of trucking companies, behavioral therapists, ride-sharing drivers, insurance agents, furniture delivery drivers, home care workers, and construction workers. Although IC misclassification is more prevalent in the home care and construction industries…

2017 was notable for a shift in the law of independent contractors. Part 1, published yesterday, discussed five key legal developments from 2017.  Part 2, below, offers readers predictions of what to expect in 2018 in this area of the law. Both parts also offer takeaways designed to maximize…

2017 was notable for a shift in the law of independent contractors. Part 1, below, discusses five key legal developments from 2017 you should be aware of. Part 2, which will follow tomorrow, offers readers predictions of what to expect in 2018 in this area of the law. Both…

There were no notable settlements in independent contractor misclassification class action cases that came to our attention last month, but there was an array of significant IC cases in various stages of litigation.  Two of those cases involve the oil and gas industry, which is turning into a hotbed…

This past month’s legal developments in the area of independent contractor misclassification and compliance was notable for some non-class action cases: one where two office workers in New York, who were found by a jury to have been misclassified as independent contractors, were each awarded substantial sums (one over $100,000)…