There have been many examples of the tension between the “gig economy” and traditional labor laws. Most of the companies like Uber or Grubhub choose to classify their drivers as independent contractors instead of employees, which eliminates obligations like overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Seventh Circuit this week dealt with such a
Unpaid Interns and a Lunch Order Gone Bad: Jury Returns FLSA Retaliation Verdict Against Martina McBride’s Production Company
A February 2020 jury verdict against county music star Martina McBride’s production company highlights – albeit indirectly – the perils of unpaid internship programs and the issues they can cause under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
The Facts
Martina McBride and her husband, John, own Blackbird Studios, which hired Richard Hanson as its operations
Whistleblower Activity Drives False Claims Act Suits in 2019
Companies that work with the federal government (think government contracts, grant funding, and Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements) need to stay up to date on the federal False Claims Act (FCA). Employee whistleblowers continue to use the FCA as one of their prime tools to bring actions against their employers. In 2019, whistleblowers filed 636 new