When California’s AB 5 was signed into law last month, a chorus of voices decried the fact that it could radically change the gig economy as we know it. Many contended that the average app-based driver enjoyed being an...more
10/31/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Definition ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
State Labor Laws ,
Transportation Industry ,
Wage and Hour
Lawmakers have begun to hold a series of hearings to discuss the “future of work,” and it may be no surprise that the two political parties have differing ideas about how that should impact the gig economy. The House...more
10/30/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
OSHA ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Gig economy businesses across the country looked to what happened in California this year and cringed. Other states looked there and were intrigued. After California passed the most aggressive independent contract statute in...more
California Governor Gavin Newsom wasted little time by signing AB 5 into law yesterday, and his signing statement should cause quite a few eyebrows to be raised. It was no surprise that he signed the bill into effect; he said...more
9/19/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
NLRA ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unions
A California State Senate leader may have thrown cold water on the idea that we will see a 2019 legislative solution to the misclassification debate that would preserve the gig economy workforce model as we know it, but her...more
Earlier this week, the California Assembly overwhelmingly passed AB5 – a measure that would codify the ABC test introduced to the state in last year’s Dynamex decision, and make life even more challenging for the average gig...more
There’s no way to sugarcoat this one. Yesterday the 9th Circuit handed a big loss to gig economy companies by concluding that last year’s Dynamex decision from the California Supreme Court and its wide-reaching ABC test...more
When the news broke yesterday that Uber had agreed to pay a group of drivers $20 million to settle a long-running misclassification claim, you could be forgiven for thinking that the deal sounded like a massive blow to the...more
Regular readers of this blog know about the Grubhub gig economy misclassification litigation. The quick version: Grubhub squared off with a former driver, Raef Lawson, in the nation’s first-ever gig economy misclassification...more
3/4/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Appeals ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employee Definition ,
Gig Economy ,
GrubHub ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Wage and Hour
The first-ever national misclassification case brought against Uber has now been put to bed. A federal court judge in North Carolina yesterday gave her blessing on a $1.3 million settlement wrapping up the litigation, handing...more
1/4/2019
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Class Action ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Uber ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour
We’ve been waiting for something like this since the gig economy was established: a set of rules and regulations, adapted for the modern era and with the gig economy in mind, addressing the issue of independent contractor...more
You remember the game-changing, earth-shattering, monumental decision from the California Supreme Court a few months ago that fundamentally changes the test to determine whether your workers are independent contractors or...more
7/20/2018
/ ABC Test ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Retroactive Application ,
Wage and Hour
It’s impossible to ignore the reverberations that continue to shake the business landscape after the landmark April 30 Dynamex ruling introduced the notorious ABC test to the California gig economy industry. For those living...more
The ink on the Dynamex court decision is barely dry, but plaintiffs’ attorneys are not wasting any time in taking advantage of the new misclassification standard established for California businesses. In a pair of lawsuits...more
5/11/2018
/ ABC Test ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Wage and Hour
Late Friday afternoon, the attorneys for the worker who came out on the losing end of the Grubhub misclassification trial asked the appeals court to return the case to the lower court for a new hearing. Their reasoning? Last...more
5/8/2018
/ ABC Test ,
Appeals ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gig Economy ,
GrubHub ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Motion to Remand ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Retroactive Application ,
Wage and Hour
May the 4th has become known as Star Wars Day given the movie franchise’s most famous tag line. Today provides an opportunity for us to examine a recent employment law development of massive significance—a great disturbance...more
My colleague Ashton Riley described it as the “contractor apocalypse.” As I said for an interview in the New York Times, “It’s a massive thing – definitely a game-changer that will force everyone to take a fresh look at the...more
Early last month, we told you that a critical trial ruling in a gig economy misclassification case could be put on hold because a separate court was mulling whether to loosen the test to make it easier for workers to succeed...more
Reports out of Washington, D.C. indicate that gig economy businesses could be in for an end-of-the-year treat in the form of game-changing legislation. Chris Opfer and Tyrone Richardson of Bloomberg BNA report that Senate...more
The evidentiary phase of the Grubhub misclassification trial ended last week; now the gig economy world waits with baited breath for a final ruling. For those unfamiliar with the situation, this could be the first time the...more
Gig employers returning from the Fourth of July holiday were in for a rude awakening when they learned about the fireworks that just went down in a California federal court. Right before the holiday weekend, Judge Jacqueline...more
Back in October, we reported that there appeared to be the first crack in the wall when it came to classifying Uber drivers as employees instead of independent contractors. At that time, it was reported that the New York...more
6/20/2017
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Definition ,
Employees ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Sharing Economy ,
Uber ,
Unemployment Benefits
Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Labor dropped a bit of a bombshell when it announced the immediate withdrawal of two informal guidance letters issued back when President Obama governed the executive branch. The 2015...more
6/12/2017
/ Administrative Interpretation ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) ,
Misclassification ,
Wage and Hour
According to a recent survey by Randstad US, an HR and staffing services company a growing number of workers prefer to be known as “contributors” rather than employees or independent contractors. Reflecting a restlessness in...more