August 2018 was a busy month in the area of independent contractor misclassification and compliance, including a number of new court filings and decisions, new regulatory initiatives, and new legislation. While none of these matters were  blockbuster developments, they do provide an important message for businesses that use ICs.

One…

There were newsworthy developments in a number of cases in the area of independent contractor misclassification during the month of October. Those cases were brought against companies in an array of different industries throughout the country: a security guard company in New Orleans; an architectural firm in New York; a…

January was a busy month for independent contractor misclassification – and IC compliance. In addition to Lowe’s $2.85 million settlement with installers whom it classified as ICs, Lufthansa agreed to pay $1.1 million in settlement for a small group of aircraft workers.  Meanwhile, Time Warner was sued for allegedly misclassifying…

Four of the five independent contractor (IC) misclassification cases reported below from July 2016 illustrate how companies continue to fail to structure, document, and implement a business’s IC relationships in a manner that minimizes the likelihood of being targeted by class action lawyers and regulators. These four cases involve two…

Yesterday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed Executive Order No. 159 expanding the existing Joint Enforcement Task Force on Employee Misclassification into a Joint Enforcement Task Force on Worker Exploitation and Employee Misclassification. Those who follow IC misclassification developments in all 50 states, such as the publisher of this legal…

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. …

On February 1, 2015, the Joint Enforcement Task Force on Employee Misclassification issued its Annual Report. The Report noted that the New York Task Force members in 2014 conducted over 12,000 audits and investigations, resulting in detection of employee misclassification involving over 133,000 workers. Those and other enforcement efforts in…

APRIL/MAY 2014

In The Courts

• ARIZONA DRYWALL COMPANY TO PAY $600,000 TO SETTLE ALLEGATIONS THAT ITS LABOR SUBCONTRACTOR MISCLASSIFIED IC’S.

Paul Johnson Drywall, Inc. agreed to pay $600,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to 445 current and former employees as result of the U.S. Department of Labor investigation into…