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Before committing to a franchise business, consider...
In the ever-evolving landscape of employment law, a recent Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) opinion, Patel v. 7-Eleven, Inc., has shed light on a critical question: When is a franchisee considered an employee of the...more
On September 5, 2024, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) held that 7-Eleven franchisees operating in a “typical” franchisor-franchisee relationship were independent contractors and not “employees” of 7-Eleven,...more
7-Eleven has been defending its position for years that individuals operating as franchisees of its retail stores in Massachusetts are not employees under that state’s strict Independent Contractor Law but rather are exempt...more
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted to publish the “Non-Compete Clause Rule” to ban employers from entering into non-compete clauses with workers on or after the effective date. The rule will be...more
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) governs private sector labor/management relations in the United States. Under the NLRA, employers have certain responsibilities and restrictions with regard to their employees,...more
In the latest of a string of decisions seemingly supporting President Biden’s claim of being the most pro-union president in history, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) this week issued its Final Rule on the Standard...more
On October 27, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) published its final rule on the standard for determining joint-employer status under the National Labor Relations Act, effective December 26, 2023. The new rule...more
The First Circuit Court of Appeals recently certified to the Massachusetts Supreme Court the question of whether franchisee plaintiffs in an ongoing case pass the threshold inquiry under the state’s three-prong employee...more
A federal court in Maine granted a franchisor’s motion to dismiss claims asserting that a franchisor was liable for its franchisee’s alleged age discrimination in employment. Goodwill v. Anywhere Real Est., 2023 WL 4034372...more
Wage-fixing and no-poach agreements will be illegal and subject to criminal penalties and damages actions in Canada as of June 23, 2023, as part of a package of amendments to the Competition Act passed in 2022. The new...more
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a decision that a group of franchisees are not employees of their franchisor, even though the trial court failed to apply the correct test. Haitayan v. 7-Eleven, Inc., 2022...more
And so we come to the ultimate affront to franchising. Responding to strong lobbying efforts by the Service Employees International Union (SIEU), the California legislature passed the Fast Food Accountability and Standards...more
Signed into law on September 18, 2019 by Governor Gavin Newsom, Assembly Bill 5 (commonly known as AB-5), took effect on January 1, 2020. AB-5 codified the California Supreme Court’s June 2018 decision in Dynamex Operations...more
Over the last several years, business-to-business “no-hire” and “no-poach” agreements have come under legal attack, including through enforcement actions by the Federal Trade Commission and criminal prosecutions by the...more
When a company issues franchises, and the workers (in this case janitors) claim they are not independent contractors and sue the franchise company, can that “relationship” be posited as a defense?...more
ARIZONA- Pursuant to H.B. 2146, employers must notify the Arizona Department of Homeland Security about any security breach involving personal information, if more than 1,000 state residents (including employees and...more
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently issued three decisions with significant implications for employers in the commonwealth, holding that (1) when an employer pays wages to an employee after the deadlines...more
On March 24, 2022, in the case of Patel v. 7-Eleven, Inc. (No. SJC-13166), the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, ruled that whether a franchisee is an independent contractor...more
On March 24, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) handed down a key ruling that could have a significant impact on franchising across the state. In Patel v. 7-Eleven, Inc., the SJC was asked whether the...more
Patel v. 7-Eleven, a case in Massachusetts, has been closely watched since the ABC test took hold of franchise relationships in employee misclassification cases across the country. A putative class of 7-Eleven franchisees...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On March 24, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) issued a much-anticipated decision in Patel, et al. v. 7-Eleven, Inc., et al. answering a certified question from the United States Court...more
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court just held that 7-Eleven franchisees may be employees of 7-Eleven under Massachusetts wage and hour law. The March 24 decision in Dhananjay Patel v. 7-Eleven, Inc. will have significant...more
Does the strict ABC test set forth in the Massachusetts independent contractor law apply to the relationship between a franchisor and its franchisee where the franchisor must also comply with the FTC’s Franchise Rule? That...more
The Democrat-majority National Labor Relations Board readied for 2022 by announcing plans to confront two President Trump-era legal tests - one that determines whether an independent contractor is actually an employee...more
Past and present franchisees of commercial cleaning service franchisor, Jani-King, brought claims for violation of Connecticut minimum wage and anti-kickback laws, and unjust enrichment. They claimed Jani-King misclassified...more