The New York Times today reported that the New York State Department of Labor has found two Uber drivers as eligible for unemployment benefits after having rejected the company’s argument that the drivers are independent contractors. Uber has so far avoided any judicial determinations that its drivers are employees and
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September 2016 Independent Contractor Misclassification and Compliance News Update
The past month’s judicial and administrative activity in the area of IC misclassification reflects the wide range of industries facing these types of claims: communications; cleaning services; transportation and delivery services; adult entertainment; hospitality; construction; and television production of professional sporting events. Almost all of these are industries that I…
Lessons Unlearned: Franchise and Independent Contractor Agreements Can Be Kiss of Death
On September 21, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a stinging decision against commercial cleaning franchisor Jani-King, certifying a class action in an independent contractor (IC) misclassification case arising in the franchising context. Williams v. Jani-King of Philadelphia Inc., No. 15-2049 (3d Cir. Sept.…
$100 Million Independent Contractor Settlement Rejected by Judge; Misclassification Lawsuit to Proceed
Earlier today, Uber and its drivers were denied in their efforts to settle the IC misclassification lawsuits brought by Uber drivers in California and Massachusetts. As readers of this legal blog will recall from my post of April 22, 2016, Uber entered into a proposed settlement with counsel for the…
June 2016 Independent Contractor Misclassification and Compliance News Update
The poster children of IC misclassification cases dominated the news in June: Uber, Lyft, GrubHub, FedEx, an exotic dance club, and a trucking transport company. It was not a good month for any of them, yet as I have articulated in this legal blog on numerous occasions, every one of…
April 2016 Independent Contractor Misclassification and Compliance News Update
This past month involved the settlement of a number of high profile IC misclassification cases. In one case, a federal court gave conditional approval to a $226 million settlement between FedEx and its Ground Division drivers, whereby each of over 2,000 drivers would receive on average over $110,000 before deductions…
Ride-Sharing Leader Settling for Up To $100 Million – Will the Settlement Receive Judicial Approval?
Only two weeks after a federal court judge in California rejected a proposed $12.25 million independent contractor misclassification settlement between Lyft and its drivers in California, Uber announced late yesterday, April 21, that it had reached a proposed settlement with its drivers in two IC misclassification lawsuits in California and…
March 2016 Independent Contractor Misclassification and Compliance News Update
The cases reported in this update continue to reflect the fact that IC misclassification cases cut across virtually all industries. Below are IC misclassification cases from such diverse industries as insurance, ride-sharing, restaurant, and the home heating and alarm industries. A Forbes article entitled “Is Your Company on the Independent…
February 2016 Independent Contractor Compliance and Misclassification News Update
In February 2016, two federal appellate courts ruled in favor of companies in IC misclassification cases: one where the NLRB was reversed in a decision where the agency had found stagehands to be employees and not ICs; the other where an appellate court gave a small but important victory to…
Minimizing Independent Contractor Misclassification Risk: “Play it Safe” or “Play it Smart”
Frances McMorris, who covers the transportation and hospitality industries for American City Business Journals (ACBJ), wrote an article on January 29 about the impact of the latest Uber lawsuit on businesses that use independent contractors and what actions companies can take to protect themselves from IC misclassification risks. Two approaches…