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…

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…

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.…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…