A number of my blog posts since October 2010, including my monthly updates beginning in November 2012, have included reports on hundreds of class action lawsuits including those by exotic dancers against strip clubs.  This industry has, by far, the most reported  lawsuits involving allegations and findings of independent contractor…

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…

The President released his Fiscal Year 2016 Budget today, February 2, 2015. In furtherance of the President’s budget request, the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division provided a 32-page budget justification to Congress for its planned appropriations. The Wage and Hour Division listed its “Key Enforcement Initiatives” for 2015-2016, and…

In the Courts (4 cases)

• JANITORIAL FRANCHISE COMPANY SETTLES ITS APPEAL OF $4.8 MILLION JUDGMENT IN FAVOR OF MISCLASSIFIED CUSTODIANS. Coverall North America Inc. settled the independent contractor misclassification case filed against it by a class of 166 custodians who were classified as franchisees under the terms of a franchise

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More than a year and a half ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in a class action independent contractor misclassification case, asked the New Jersey Supreme Court to articulate the test that judges should apply in state law wage and hour claims being heard in federal…

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…

The Florida Department of Revenue is the latest state agency to sign a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Labor seeking to prevent employees from being misclassified as independent contractors (ICs). This latest federal-state partnership was announced earlier today by David Weil, the new Administrator of…

In the Courts (4 cases)

• SUPPLIER OF INSTALLATION SERVICES FOR LARGE SATELLITE TV COMPANY CANNOT DISMISS IC MISCLASSIFICATION CLAIM BY INSTALLER. A federal district court in Mississippi last month denied cross-motions for summary judgment in an FLSA class action IC misclassification suit brought against Media Net, a supplier of

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