HR - Independent Contractors

On July 12, 2017, the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing concerning the need for legislation to redefine the joint employer standard.1 As many employers are aware, the interpretation of when employers constitute “joint employers” has been expanded in the last few year

U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced on June 7, 2017 that the Department of Labor (DOL) is withdrawing its 2015 and 2016 guidance on joint employment and independent contractors. The withdrawal indicates a possible shift in focus for the DOL, away from the increased scrutiny of busines

Economists and business commentators believe that the U.S. economy is moving from a world of corporations to a world of “pop-up” businesses. Further, they point out that these pop-up businesses are powered by what’s becoming known as “gig workers” – a term borrowed from the music industry, where mus

This month, two New York federal judges reviewing a claim of misclassification rejected a claim for overtime compensation, agreeing that a business properly classified two translators as independent contractors rather than as “employees” under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law.

Employers across the country continue to misclassify workers as independent contractors rather than as employees, and as we recently saw in Alexander v. FedEx Ground Package System, Inc., such actions can result in litigation and federal and state scrutiny.

In Alexander v. FedEx Ground Package System, Inc., 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 16585 (9th Cir. Aug. 27, 2014), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that former Federal Express drivers were employees rather than independent contractors pursuant to California’s right-to-control test. This important decisi

During Tuesday’s Senate Subcommittee hearing – Payroll Fraud: Targeting Bad Actors Hurting Workers and Businesses – Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA) announced that he, along with Senators Tom Harkin (IA) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), had that day introduced the Payroll Fraud Protection Act of 2013 (S

The district court's opinion denying cross-motions for summary judgment in Bobbitt v. Broadband Interactive, Inc., No. 8:11-cv-2855 (M.D. Fla. Oct. 21, 2013) illustrates how not to structure an independent contractor relationship and how not to lay the groundwork to defend that relationship in the e

Executive Summary: A federal trial court in New Jersey has dismissed a lawsuit brought under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by a group of drivers against a trucking company, holding that the drivers are not employees but independent contractors. Luxama v. Ironbound Express, Inc. et al.,