Are Reality TV Contestants Independent Contractors or Employees? From Pods to Paychecks With Love Is Blind — Hiring to Firing Podcast
AGG Talks: Cross-Border Business Podcast - What Foreign Investors Need to Know About U.S. Independent Contractor Laws
#WorkforceWednesday: DOL’s Final Rule on Worker Classification, NLRB Joint-Employer Rule Challenged, SpaceX Sues NLRB - Employment Law This Week®
The Burr Broadcast: New Independent Contractor Rule
DE Under 3: US DOL's WHD Published Its “Employee or Independent Contractor” Classification Final Rule
State AG Pulse | AGs Clock In On Wages
Podcast - California Employment News: The Employment Start-Up Kit for Start-Ups – Part 1
California Employment News: The Employment Start-Up Kit for Start-Ups – Part 1
Clocking in with PilieroMazza: The NLRB Strikes Again: Reasons to Revisit Independent Contractor Classifications
Top 5 Employment Challenges in 2023 for Government Contractors
DE Under 3: Trump Admin Independent Contractor Rule Back; Non-binary Reporting & the OFCCPs New Pay Equity Directive
#WorkforceWednesday: Independent Contractor Rule Reinstated, OFCCP Targets Pay Equity Audits, OSHA Focuses on Health Care Facilities - Employment Law This Week®
Looking back at 2021 and ahead to 2022
#WorkforceWednesday: NLRB Outlook, NY Whistleblower Protections Take Effect, DOJ to Focus on Cyber-Fraud - Employment Law This Week®
#WorkforceWednesday: Employee Privacy and COVID-19, CMS Vaccine Mandate on Hold, Independent Contractor Classification - Employment Law This Week®
#WorkforceWednesday: Preparing for Biden's Vaccine Mandate, Mandate Pushback Begins, NLRA's Reach Expected to Expand - Employment Law This Week®
Williams Mullen Manufacturing Edge Video Series - Episode 1
Employment Law Now V-96- LOTS of Big Employment Law Developments
#WorkforceWednesday: Obama-Era Approach, Pro-Union Push, and States Split on Vaccination Policies - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Biden Administration Quick Take – Three Employment Law Initiatives We’re Monitoring
While 2024 saw more stability in the financial markets than 2023, many challenges arose in 2024 for franchised businesses, manufacturers and retail chains, including bankruptcies of many large restaurant and retail chains,...more
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) just delivered a win for franchisor-franchisee relationships. Specifically, the court held that 7-Eleven franchisees are not performing a “service” for their franchisor, meaning...more
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, answering a certified question, has ruled that five 7-Eleven franchisees were independent contractors, not misclassified “employees,” under the Massachusetts Independent Contractor...more
On September 5, 2024, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) ruled in Patel v. 7-Eleven that 7-Eleven franchisees are not employees of the franchisor under the independent contractor statute. The SJC looked beyond...more
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
A federal court in Massachusetts granted summary judgment in favor of a franchisor in a long-running case against its franchisees. In Patel et al. v. 7-Eleven, Inc., five 7-Eleven store owners brought suit claiming 7-Eleven...more
A federal court recently ruled that 7-Eleven franchise owners are not employees of the franchisor, the latest development in a long-running legal saga challenging their status as independent contractors. However, this...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
Three industries suffered setbacks last month in independent contractor misclassification cases, while another targeted industry targeted scored a success. As we have reported in many prior blog posts, class action lawyers...more
On March 24, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) determined that the Massachusetts independent contractor statute (G. L. c. 149, § 148B) applies within the franchisor-franchisee context and does not...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
On March 24, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled in Patel v. 7-Eleven that the test for independent contractor status set forth in the Massachusetts independent contractor statute applies to the...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
In 2017, four former franchisees brought a class action in California, claiming 7-Eleven owed them unreimbursed expenses. The ex-franchisees claimed they were employees, not independent contractors of 7-Eleven. The court...more
The PRO Act would do serious, and perhaps mortal, damage to the franchise industry. It would make sweeping changes to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), and the Labor...more
A federal court in California certified a class of Matco Tools franchisees who claimed to be misclassified by Matco as independent contractors rather than employees. They claimed Matco did this to avoid obligations owed to...more
In 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the ABC Test announced in a California Supreme Court decision, Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, 4 Cal.5th 903 (2018) could apply to franchise...more
Franchisors faced unprecedented challenges in 2020. Enactment of California’s Assembly Bill 5 on January 1, 2020 was just the tip of an iceberg. As the COVID-19 pandemic upended franchise systems across all industries,...more
Change is coming, but will it be a welcome change or a harbinger of woe? Over the last 8 years or so, the ever-changing landscape of employment laws has arguably posed an existential threat to franchising. The franchise...more
Download PDF Assembly Bill 5 took effect in California on January 1, 2020 and governs when a business can treat a worker as an employee as opposed to an independent contractor. Under AB5 and its “ABC” test, a hiring entity...more
Welcome to The Franchise Memorandum by Lathrop GPM, formerly known as The GPMemorandum. Below are summaries of recent legal developments of interest to franchisors. Given the widespread and evolving impact of the COVID-19...more
The Ninth Circuit ruled that a California Matco Tool franchisee, John Fleming, could bring a class action wage and hour suit in California, even though a forum selection clause in the distribution agreement specified Ohio...more
Our quarterly report takes a look back at the most significant class action developments over the last year, including litigation trends, court decisions, and legislative and regulatory changes that are certain to invite...more
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 5 (“AB-5”). AB-5 codifies into California’s Labor Code the “ABC test” for determining employee or independent contractor status, as adopted by the California...more
In a win for franchisors, the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of fast-food behemoth McDonald’s Corp., ruling that the franchisor is not a joint employer of its franchisees’...more