Earlier today, Carmel DeAmicis of Re/code reported that Homejoy, the home cleaning start-up that uses independent contractors as their home cleaners, was closing down its operations due to four misclassification lawsuits filed against it. This is not the first company in the sharing economy using on-demand contract workers to alter
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New, Different, Dramatic? The Labor Department’s New Guidance on Independent Contractor Misclassification Is Nothing New Legally, But Will Reinvigorate the Crackdown on the Proliferating Use of Contractors
Earlier today, July 15, the Wage and Hour Administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor, Dr. David Weil, announced a new “Administrator’s Interpretation” addressing the misclassification of employees as independent contractors under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The 15-page Interpretation sets forth the test to be…
Misclassification of Independent Contractors: The Crackdown, Its Costs, and How to Minimize or Avoid Its Risks
This article was published as a comprehensive three-part series in the Employment and Class Action sections of Law360 on July 7–9, 2015 as “The Costs of Worker Misclassification.” © Copyright 2015, Portfolio Media, Inc., publisher of Law360. This article is based on the 2015 Update to my White Paper. …
Is Your Company On The Independent Contractor Hit List?
On June 16, 2015, Forbes columnist and senior editor Daniel Fisher, who covers finance, the law, and how the two interact, posted on his column a guest post by Richard Reibstein, the publisher of this blog, entitled “Is Your Company On The Independent Contractor Hit List?” The text of…
June 2015 Independent Contractor Compliance and Misclassification News Update
The month of June 2015 created more newspaper stories and blog posts on the subject of independent contractor misclassification than any other. Why? Uber lost an IC misclassification case and FedEx Ground agreed to pay $228 million to settle an IC misclassification case with its drivers in California. Those articles …
Uber Driver Prevails in Independent Contractor Misclassification Administrative Proceeding in California
An Uber driver has prevailed in an independent contractor misclassification wage case in California. This decision involving the ride-sharing leader involved an individual claim by a driver who represented herself before the California Labor Commissioner seeking allegedly unpaid wages, including overtime, as well as unreimbursed “employee” expenses under California law.…
New Independent Contractor Misclassification Study Is Belied By Government Report and Disregards the Legitimate Use of Independent Contractors
The Economic Policy Institute, a respected nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, has just released a working paper authored by a respected professor who co-authored a number of early academic studies detailing independent contractor misclassification in two Northeastern states. The working paper, entitled “(In)dependent Contractor Misclassification,” surprisingly contains little more…
May 2015 Independent Contractor Compliance and Misclassification News Update
May 2015 was one of the busiest months for independent contractor (IC) misclassification cases in the courts and administrative agencies – no less than a dozen cases including such well-known companies as BMW, the NFL and Buffalo Bills, Sleepy’s, FedEx, Super 8 Motels, and Uber, as well as some lesser…
New GAO Report on Contingent Workforce Shows 85% of Independent Contractors Are “Content with Their Employment Type”
A comprehensive government report on the contingent workforce made public two days ago revealed surprising data about independent contractors, finding that 85% of independent contractors “appeared content with their employment type.” Perhaps even more unexpected is that significantly more independent contractors (57%) were “very satisfied” with their jobs than those…
Ride-Sharing Update: Key Motions Decided Today in Independent Contractor Misclassification Class Action Lawsuits
On March 11, 2015, ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft were the subject of separate decisions by two federal court judges in California, who issued separate decisions yesterday in class action lawsuits brought by drivers of both companies. The drivers allege that Uber and Lyft misclassified them as independent contractors (ICs)…