A $6.5 million settlement between Lowe’s Home Centers and a class of its home improvement contractors was approved by a federal court judge in California earlier this week. The contractors claim that they had been misclassified as independent contractors instead of employees. The maximum settlement amount, depending on the number

Today’s online edition of New York Magazine’s “Daily Intelligencer” includes a comprehensive article on how Silicon Valley start-up tech companies using “the 1099 model” may be exposed to employment, tax, and benefit law liabilities that could drive them out of business or cause them to change to a W-2 model.

The news from Washington, D.C. yesterday is that the U.S. Department of Labor is funding 19 states’ efforts to crack down on businesses that unwittingly or intentionally fail to make unemployment contributions for individuals misclassified as independent contractors. While class actions in court continue to receive the most attention, unemployment

March 2014

In the Courts

  • LOGISTICS COMPANY HIT WITH $2.2 MILLION IC MISCLASSIFICATION CITATION. Pacer Cartage, which was recently acquired by logistics giant XPO, was ordered by the California Labor Commissioner’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) to pay $2,214,496.39 in back pay, attorney’s fees, and interest for reportedly having

After months of uncertainty in the second half of 2013 and the first three months of 2014, the law of independent contractor misclassification in New York State will change in the transportation and delivery of commercial goods industry on April 10, 2014.  Yesterday, March 17, 2014, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed

The law of independent contractor misclassification in New York State is about to change for many companies in the business of transportation or delivery of commercial goods – but no one quite knows if it will be tomorrow or in another 30 or more days.

The new law targets transportation