Yesterday the U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced the Department of Labor’s withdrawal of guidance on independent contractors and joint employer liability issued in 2015 and 2016 by the Obama administration DOL. Generally, the guidance made more people employees rather than independent contractors. In particular, this guidance sought to (1) define more rigidly the situations … Continue Reading
For anyone following the employee versus independent contractor battles, Uber just scored in Florida. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) says Uber drivers are independent contractors and are not entitled to unemployment benefits when Uber revokes their app. In fact, per the opinion, “Uber is no more an employer to drivers than is an … Continue Reading
Is your company at risk of being told that your independent contractors are actually employees? If the Department of Labor (DOL) breaks this news to you, what are the labor implications? What are the tax obligations? What are your legal obligations to a third party? Join Bruce P. Ely, Summer Davis, and me next Wednesday, … Continue Reading
In early August, Netflix announced that in addition to offering unlimited sick and vacation days, it would also allow employees to take unlimited paid parental leave. Refusing to be upstaged by the private sector, on Labor Day President Obama signed an Executive Order requiring all businesses that contract with the federal government to begin providing their … Continue Reading
Developments continue to come almost daily about misclassification of employees as independent contractors. Wage and hour cases, tax rulings, and discrimination charges all are part of the mix. We have blogged about worker misclassification extensively, covering the DOL guidance from July of 2015, the treatment of Uber and Lyft drivers, and, um, “entertainers” and “cheerleaders.” … Continue Reading
Continuing the trend of expanding Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime rules outside the traditional realm of hourly manufacturing or retail workers, two recent events show that employers should be aware that exemption and independent contractor issues are on the forefront of labor scrutiny. Two bits, four bits, six bits a dollar—pay us more or … Continue Reading
Last week, the Second Circuit revived an attorney’s claim that he was owed overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and muddied the waters as to when a professional is exempt from the FLSA’s overtime provision. David Lola appealed a New York District Court’s dismissal of his putative collective action seeking damages for … Continue Reading
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an Administrator’s Interpretation that provides some important new guidance on the standard for classifying workers—as employees or independent contractors—under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). And make no mistake: This guidance clearly intends to make it more difficult than ever for employers to classify their workers as … Continue Reading
Last summer, President Obama signed the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order, which requires government contractors hoping to secure contracts of over $500,000 to disclose state and federal labor law violations from the past three years. This week, the U.S. Department of Labor issued proposed rules defining exactly what “federal law violations” must be … Continue Reading
Following the U.S. Department of Labor’s recent release of its Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with the Alabama Department of Labor, employers should not rest easy simply because they classify their workers as independent contractors. DOL’s Misclassification Initiative seeks to prevent, detect and remedy employee misclassification and it has entered similar agreements with 15 other states … Continue Reading
Employers will have to report previous labor law violations to bid for federal government work beginning soon. On the heels of President Obama’s executive order prohibiting LBGT discrimination by federal contractors, the President signed yet another executive order—this one requiring disclosure of labor and employment violations from the previous three years. Areas included are: wage … Continue Reading
