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Independent Contractors Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Employment Litigation

Independent contractors are individuals or entities that perform work for other individuals or entities, but are not employees of those individuals or entities. Whether a worker is an employee or an independent... more +
Independent contractors are individuals or entities that perform work for other individuals or entities, but are not employees of those individuals or entities. Whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor is not always an easy determination. However, due to differences in tax and liability treatment, misclassifying an employee as an independent contractor can have serious consequences. Autonomy is the defining feature of independent contractor arrangements. Independent contractors control the manner and method of how work is performed while payers control the desired result. Control over schedule and number of hours worked, ownership of equipment or tools, permanency of relationship, and acceptance of jobs from multiple entities are all possible factors in determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor.   less -
Littler

Littler Lightbulb: August Appellate Roundup

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This Littler Lightbulb highlights some of the more significant employment law developments in federal courts of appeal in the last month. Fifth Circuit Vacates DOL Tip Credit Rule...more

Locke Lord LLP

Jurors Disagree on Whether Ride Share Drivers Are Independent Contractors or ‎Employees: June 2024 IC Legal News Update ‎

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Lawyers representing ride share drivers have argued for years that their clients are being misclassified as independent contractors under federal and state laws. They have attained little success, however, obtaining...more

Carlton Fields

Federal Court Rejects Argument That Subsequent Opt-Out of Arbitration Clause Precluded Arbitration

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The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has rejected an argument that opting out of arbitration clauses precluded arbitration under prior arbitration agreements in a dispute between Uber drivers and...more

Cranfill Sumner LLP

Exception for “Transportation Workers” Under the Federal Arbitration Act Grows Larger

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The courts will generally enforce employee arbitration agreements via the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”). However, a “transportation workers” exemption exists under the FAA. On April 12, 2024, the United States Supreme Court...more

Locke Lord LLP

Why Was a Carpenter Misclassified as Independent Contractor But a Truck Cleaner Was ‎Not? March 2024 IC Legal News Update

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Two court cases we summarize below, decided in March 2024, demonstrate that while some companies may prevail in an IC misclassification lawsuit, others do not. Why? As a starting point, the legal test for IC status under the...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Federal District Court in Virginia Rejects Familiar Two-Step FLSA Collective Certification Approach

On April 14, 2023, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Ellis, J.) declined to conditionally certify a collective of USA Today sports website editors, ruling that the familiar two-step Fair...more

Littler

Littler Lightbulb – March Employment Appellate Roundup

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This Littler Lightbulb highlights some of the more significant employment and labor law developments at the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts of appeal over the last month....more

DCI Consulting

[Webinar] Expert Summit for Employment Attorneys: NEW BONUS SESSION: Expert Testimony in Wage and Hour Litigation - March 2nd,...

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Federal and state wage and hour litigation has been an area of concentration for Industrial/Organizational Psychologists for decades. These cases address alleged discrimination in wage-based employment practices such as...more

Fisher Phillips

SCOTUS Review: 8 Key Rulings from Last Term that Impact the Workplace and 3 Issues We’re Watching

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Many employers looked to the Supreme Court last term for clarity in cases with a significant impact on the workplace. The justices continued to shape the employment law landscape by ruling on an array of issues involving...more

Locke Lord LLP

Janitorial Services, Cable Installation, and Door-to-Door and Internet Sales Industries Did Not Fare Well Last Month: May 2022 IC...

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Since the inception of this blog in 2010, we have reported on independent contractor misclassification class actions filed against hundreds of companies in scores of industries. Yet some industries seem to have been targeted...more

Fisher Phillips

The Top 17 Workplace Law Stories from May 2022

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It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more

Littler

Fifth Circuit Holds Directional Driller is an Independent Contractor Rather than an Employee for FLSA Purposes

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On May 11, 2022, the Fifth Circuit issued its opinion in Hargrave v. AIM Directional Services, L.L.C., giving a big win to energy-sector companies by concluding that a directional driller was an independent contractor rather...more

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Massachusetts SJC Adopts Federal Standard in Determining Joint Employer Status

In a December 13, 2021 decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court adopted a standard heretofore applied in federal court for determining joint employer status.  In Jinks v. Credico (USA) LLC, four plaintiff employees...more

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

New Year, New Laws: What You Need to Know as We Enter 2022

Over the past two years, developments in employment law have focused on COVID-19. But there are developments in other areas of employment law, especially in New York, that employers must be aware of and plan for in the new...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Fifth Circuit Rules Day Rate Compensation Does Not Satisfy Requirement of Payment on a Salaried Basis for Exempt Status

The issue of the proper application of the highly compensated employee exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), as it applies to employees paid on a “day-rate” basis in the oil and gas industry, has been a hotly...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Appeals Court Affirms Employer’s Ability to Compel Arbitration in Massachusetts

Mandatory arbitration clauses for employment disputes have received a great deal of attention in recent years. In the First Circuit, there is now more clarity regarding the factors used to determine the enforceability of...more

Locke Lord LLP

Arbitration Pacts Alive and Well, Even for Interstate Transportation Workers: March 2021 ‎News Update

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Immediately following the issuance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in New Prime v. Oliveira on January 15, 2019, we stated in a blog post that “even if an individual or group of workers is excluded [from arbitration]...more

Epstein Becker & Green

#WorkforceWednesday: OSHA’s Updated COVID-19 Guidance, CDC’s New Mask Guidance, Biden Administration Rollbacks - Employment Law...

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Welcome to #WorkforceWednesday. This week, we look at updated safety and mask guidance and the top workplace regulations the Biden administration has rolled back. OSHA Updates COVID-19 Guidance In response to President...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Fifth Circuit Shakes Up Standard for Certifying FLSA Collective Actions

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a potentially landmark decision in Swales v. KLLM Transport Services, L.L.C. on Jan. 12, 2021, rejecting more than 30 years of case law related to conditional...more

Locke Lord LLP

Oil and Gas, Cable, Shopping, Pet Sitting, and Shipping Companies Lose Ground in Independent Contractor Misclassification Cases:...

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In October, a diverse group of industries experienced adverse court rulings defending independent contractor classification class and collective action cases. Two cases involved courts granting conditional certification of...more

Fisher Phillips

The Top Non-COVID Workplace Law Stories You May Have Missed: May 2020

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While you have been primarily focused on COVID-19-related matters for the past few months, that doesn’t the world of labor and employment law has taken a timeout. While the pace of new developments has slowed somewhat, there...more

FordHarrison

Fifth Circuit Provides Positive Guidance on Independent Contractor Classification

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Applying the “economic realities” test, the Fifth Circuit (with jurisdiction over federal courts in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) recently held that a consultant for an oil and gas company was not subject to FLSA...more

Fisher Phillips

Web Exclusive: January 2020: The Top 14 Labor And Employment Law Stories

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It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

2nd Cir. Rules Utilization Reviewer Was Exempt “Professional”

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Seyfarth Synopsis: The Second Circuit has affirmed summary judgment for the employer, Aetna, in an exempt misclassification overtime claim brought by a nurse reviewer. Agreeing that the plaintiff was properly classified as a...more

Jackson Walker

Independent Contractors Redux: Fifth Circuit Returns to Oil Patch to Address Independent Contractor Status Under the Fair Labor...

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Overtime Pay in the Oil Patch - The boom for domestic energy producers, particularly in the Permian Basin, has been accompanied by the companion challenge of how to compensate transient oilfield service providers within...more

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