The President’s long-awaited 2014 fiscal year budget was released earlier today, April 10, 2013.  One of the “funding highlights” listed in the section of the Budget covering the Department of Labor is to “Maintain support for agencies that protect workers’ wages, benefits, health and safety, and invest in preventing …

In October of 2010, I reported on a federal court decision certifying a class action of adult dancers that performed services at the Penthouse Executive Club in New York City; the dancers claimed they are “employees” under federal and state laws and had been misclassified as independent contractors (ICs). They…

March 2013

In the Courts:

  • A Pennsylvania federal district court grants motion of trucking and courier company, American Eagle Express (AEX), to decertify a class of 201 delivery drivers who allege that AEX misclassified them as independent contractors and denied them overtime compensation under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act

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Steven Greenhouse writes about the Freelancers Union in a timely article for the Sunday Business section of The New York Times today, March 24. The Freelancers Union is not a labor organization, either in the typical mold or one that is legally recognized as a “labor organization” under the federal…

Several comments filed by various industry groups on proposed regulations issued in January by the Internal Revenue Service have focused on worker classification ambiguities that are embedded in the “common law” standard for distinguishing between “common law employees” and bona fide non-employee service providers.  The IRS had issued proposed regulations…

On Monday, March 11, 2013, Richard Reibstein, the publisher of this blog, submitted 17 pages of detailed Comments to the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed data collection for its Worker Classification Survey. The Comments, which were officially received By the Labor Department on March 12, noted that, absent substantial revisions…

February 2013

In the Courts:

  • Lowe’s Home Centers is sued by construction material installer engaged in installing fences, roofs, siding and decks for Lowe’s customers in a class action misclassification lawsuit. The installer seeks to represent himself and  all other similarly situated installers under the Illinois Employee Classification Act, seeking

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It is rare for a business to challenge an administrative determination concerning a single worker’s claim for unemployment insurance benefits. Indeed, many employers tend to delegate responsibility to handle administrative proceedings before state unemployment offices to companies providing “unemployment claims services.” This is because the issue in most unemployment cases…

January 2013

 In the Courts

  • California Supreme Court agrees to review finding that newspaper home delivery carriers, who claim to have been misclassified as independent contractors and deprived of overtime pay under state law, could properly maintain their lawsuit as a class action where they claim to have been

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Last week, kgb USA, which operates a text message and Internet-based information service, consented to the entry of a federal court judgment to pay $1.3 million in unpaid minimum wage and overtime wages to its 14,500 current and former “Special Agents” in settlement of claims brought by the U.S.…