California law generally requires that non-exempt employees be paid 1.5 times their “regular rate of pay” for work performed beyond 40 hours in a week or 8 hours in a day – and twice their “regular rate of pay” for time...more
For more than 80 years, federal law has provided a general right to premium pay for working overtime hours, originally just for covered employees, then later for employees of covered enterprises. The laws of more than 30...more
On January 29, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the immediate termination of its Payroll Audit Independent Determination Program (PAID). Launched in March 2018 by the Wage and Hour Division (WHD), PAID was...more
As we have previously written here, the California Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court dramatically changed the standard for determining whether workers in California were properly...more
At the time we are posting this, we are just weeks away from the inauguration of President-Elect Joseph Biden. Although perhaps not at the very top of the list of questions about the forthcoming Biden administration,...more
As we have written here before, ride share and food delivery companies doing business in California had a lot at stake in the November 3, 2020 election. In fact, it was possible that those businesses might even cease doing...more
November 3, 2020 has been circled on the calendars of app-based ride share and food delivery companies doing business in California for many months now. After a new ruling by the California Court of Appeal, those companies...more
We have written frequently here about AB5, California’s controversial law that creates an “ABC” test that must be satisfied in order for a worker to be treated as an independent contractor. ...more
9/8/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Artists ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Misclassification ,
Music Industry ,
New Legislation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Writers
Given the ever increasing number of wage-hour class and collective actions being filed against employers, it is no surprise that may employers have turned to arbitration agreements with class and collective action waivers as...more
As we wrote here just several days ago, Californians were facing the seemingly unimaginable this week– the possibility of living without ride share services for the foreseeable future....more
8/21/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Ballot Measures ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Ridesharing ,
State Attorneys General ,
State Labor Laws ,
TRO ,
Wage and Hour
To some, it may feel like it was a lifetime ago when ride share companies did not even exist. In those seemingly long-ago days, people relied upon friends to drive them to or from the airport, or assigned designated drivers...more
8/19/2020
/ Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Lyft ,
Misclassification ,
Ridesharing ,
State Labor Laws ,
TRO ,
Uber ,
Wage and Hour
We have written here frequently about California’s controversial AB 5 law, which permits companies to treat workers as independent contractors only if they satisfy a stringent “ABC” test....more
8/12/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Ballot Measures ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Ridesharing ,
State Attorneys General ,
State Labor Laws ,
TRO ,
Wage and Hour
As we wrote here recently, two federal courts in California rejected Postmates’ attempt to escape having to defend thousands of individual arbitrations filed by drivers contending they have been misclassified as independent...more
Let me be the millionth person to say that we are living in unprecedented times.
Well, unless you count the Spanish Flu, which few of us probably dealt with as that was more than a century ago....more
5/16/2020
/ After-Hours Work ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Force Majeure Clause ,
Reimbursements ,
Telecommuting ,
Wage and Hour
For those of you who may have been wondering whether the California Attorney General’s office was still open during the statewide stay-at-home order triggered by the coronavirus, the answer is yes – as evidenced by a...more
5/8/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Lyft ,
Misclassification ,
State Labor Laws ,
Uber ,
Wage and Hour
We have written here about the efforts of several gig economy companies like DoorDash to avoid having to conduct – and pay for – thousands of individual arbitrations alleging that their workers had been misclassified....more
4/22/2020
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
DoorDash ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Postmates
It is no secret that independent contractor misclassification claims are being filed against employers with a great deal of frequency, often as class actions and often in California. Many of those lawsuits have been filed...more
Be careful what you ask for.
We have used that expression frequently when writing about recent federal court orders requiring DoorDash and Postmates to conduct thousands of individual arbitrations in California pursuant to...more
In the coming days, weeks and perhaps months, many employers will have difficult decisions to make about their operations and their workforces. With their operations shutting down or running at less than capacity, many...more
Recently, we wrote here about a federal court order requiring DoorDash to conduct more than 5,000 individual arbitrations under the terms of its mandatory arbitration agreements, with each arbitration to address claims that...more
3/9/2020
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Arbitration Fees ,
DoorDash ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Filing Fees ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Misclassification
It is not unusual for businesses at risk of employee theft to implement security screenings for employees as they exit the employer’s facilities. Such screenings are especially common in industries where small, costly items...more
It’s no secret that many employers have employees sign arbitration agreements with class and collective action waivers in the hopes of avoiding the massive wage-hour lawsuits that have become so prevalent in the past two...more
2/14/2020
/ American Arbitration Association ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Arbitration Fees ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Contract Terms ,
DoorDash ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Fees ,
Motion to Compel
As we wrote here, United States District Court Judge Kimberly J. Mueller of the Eastern District of California wrote a brief “minute order” explaining that she was issuing a preliminary injunction to halt enforcement of...more
2/11/2020
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Labor Regulations ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
The California Legislature’s attempt to circumvent both the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) and the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Epic Systems by crafting a new law prohibiting California employers from requiring...more
2/4/2020
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Employment Contract ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
Preemption ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
TRO
As we have written here, the day before California’s controversial AB 5 was set to go into effect, U.S. District Court Judge Roger Benitez issued a temporary restraining order to block enforcement of the law as to...more
2/3/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Commercial Truck Drivers ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (FAAAA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Misclassification ,
Motor Carriers ,
New Legislation ,
Preemption ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
TRO ,
Trucking Industry ,
Trucking Regulations ,
Wage and Hour