On Friday, January 12, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal from Starbucks on a case involving the termination of seven Memphis, Tennessee employees....more
On August 16, 2023, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit clarified the test courts should use when determining whether workplace uniforms or safety gear are integral and indispensable to an employee's principal...more
The Trademark Trial & Appeal Board recently redefined what it takes in the age of the internet to meet the “goods in trade” requirement for registrability by holding that the Lens.com three-factor test is the universal legal...more
Late in the Trump administration, the Department of Labor issued final rules intended to distinguish between employees and independent contractors for purposes of qualification for overtime and minimum wage obligations under...more
Since the enactment of the Jones Act, courts have wrestled to define "seaman" and who is entitled to remedies under the Jones Act. The Jones Act grants a "seaman" a negligence cause of action against his employer and only a...more
In Allen v. Ambu-Stat, LLC, No. 18-10640 (January 16, 2020), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a Georgia district court’s dismissal of a former employee’s sexual harassment claim and delivered a...more
The U.S. Department of Labor’s new joint employment regulations appear to provide franchisors and some other contractual business arrangements with protections against wage claims from workers not employed by them. However,...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently held that its two-question Doiron test for determining whether oilfield services contracts are maritime contracts also applies when evaluating the maritime-contract...more
In my article last month, “Should Amazon be Liable for Products Sold in its Marketplace,” I discussed how the Fourth Circuit, like many courts before it, ruled Amazon was not a “Seller” when considering products sold on its...more
Defective products harm consumers. Courts have consistently held, however, that Amazon is not liable for defective products acquired through its on-line marketplace because the company is not a “seller” and is otherwise...more
On Thursday, May 2, the Ninth Circuit issued a significant decision holding that the California Supreme Court’s recent Dynamex ruling applies retroactively. Recall that in Dynamex, California’s highest court rejected a...more
In Parrish v Premier Directional Drilling, the Fifth Circuit recently rejected a group of directional driller consultants’ claims for overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) finding that the directional driller...more
Applicants challenging jurisdiction must satisfy a single three-limbed test, rather than establish a ‘good arguable case’ and ‘better of the argument’. The English Court of Appeal has clarified the correct test to be...more
On Monday, April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in the matter of Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles. In a voluminous, 82-page decision, the California Supreme...more
For the first time since a 2012 decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals elaborated on and applied the Supreme Court’s four-factor analysis to determine whether a position is...more
The Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal has held that painters may be treated as independent contractors if they bring some of their own tools, control their own schedules, and make decisions on how to complete the work...more
Last month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals became the fourth appellate circuit to reject the Department of Labor’s six-part test for determining whether internships at for-profit companies must be paid. The DOL test...more
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals’ recent articulation of a new test for joint employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets a challenging standard for general contractors and others that seek to minimize labor...more
As reported in EmployNews, last month in its Salinas decision, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North Carolina and South Carolina) adopted a new, broader test for determining when two entities are joint...more
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state wage payment laws, employers are responsible for compliance with wage payment requirements. Plaintiffs cannot sue non-employers claiming overtime or minimum wage violations....more
In a pair of sure-to-be controversial decisions, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals created a new and troubling standard to determine whether individuals should be considered “joint employees” of multiple entities. The new...more
On December 5, 2016, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision in Berger v. National Collegiate Athletic Association. The case was brought by former University of Pennsylvania (Penn) student athletes, Gillian...more
A recent decision by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals appears to reject the U.S. Department of Labor’s oft-recited six-factor test, which is used to determine whether interns are actually functioning as employees. In...more
Most employers using temporary workers from an employment agency assume that they are liable as employers for certain legal claims. While a reasonable assumption, until last week, this status had never been formally...more
On July 2, 2015, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued significant pro-employer decisions in Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures (Nos. 13-4478-cv, 13-4481-cv) (“Fox”) and Wang v. Hearst Corp. (No. 13-4480-cv) (“Hearst”)...more