Class action settlements are complicated. They often take months to negotiate. The last thing the lawyers or their clients on either side want to happen is for the trial court to deny approval or, even worse, for an appellate...more
The Fourth Circuit upheld a district court’s decision refusing to compel arbitration in a labor dispute between a gentlemen’s club (“Crazy Horse”) and a putative class of entertainers because of Crazy Horse’s extensive...more
Employers should take note of a recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in a case involving the arbitration clause in an independent contractor agreement....more
Even outside the Capital Beltway, this has been a strange year. Those of us who handle labor and employment issues everyday often think we’ve seen it all—only to be proven wrong time and again. As April Fools’ Day approaches,...more
Four of the eight court cases we report on below in our February 2017 monthly update of IC misclassification cases involve Uber, and each of those cases were victories for the ride-sharing, on-demand company. Although none of...more
Our news update for last month highlights the fact that IC misclassification lawsuits are happening across the country and in virtually every industry, both in the on-demand economy and in more traditional business sectors....more
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...more
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 we have...more
In May 2016, the Fourth Circuit applied a six-part, economic realities test to determine that two Maryland dance clubs had misclassified their exotic dancers as independent contractors. This case is important for several...more
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...more
This past month’s headline developments involve three major developments in the area of independent contractor (IC) misclassification. The first case involves a large department store that agreed to pay most of the costs of...more
In Roe v. SFBSC Management, LLC, No. 14-cv-03616 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 2, 2015), a federal district court in California rejected a night club’s attempt to compel arbitration by a class of performers who claimed they were...more
This month’s headline developments are a set of cases reported in February dealing with class action IC misclassification claims: the highest court in a key state agreeing to decide whether a worker-friendly test should be...more
A number of our blog posts since October 2010, including our monthly updates beginning in November 2012, have included reports on class action lawsuits by exotic dancers against strip clubs. This industry has, by far, the...more
Salazar v. Victory Entertainment, Inc., No. B249888 (December 15, 2014): In a recent decision, a California Court of Appeal revived a class action lawsuit brought by a group of exotic dancers who claimed that they were...more
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...more
Recently, the Nevada Supreme Court in Terry, et al., v. Sapphire Gentlemen's Club, reversed a lower court's ruling and held that performers at Sapphire Gentlemen's Club meet the definition of "employees" under the Nevada...more
Given the extensive use of euphemisms in the exotic dancing trade, we’ll apologize in advance for any unintended puns. We’ve written on the issue of the classification of exotic dancers or strippers in the past [April...more
Recently, there’s been a wave of Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) rulings adverse to employers in the adult entertainment industry. Early this year, a Southern District of New York judge approved an $8 million settlement for...more
This month’s headline developments are two independent contractor misclassification class action lawsuits: one was filed in New York against a Silicon Valley giant, Google Inc., and the second was filed in California against...more
We mentioned early last year that the U.S. Department of Labor intended to start cracking down on the (mis)classification of workers as independent contractors. All is not lost however, as we also recently discussed a New...more