The California Supreme Court may be about to rewrite the test for Who Is My Employee? under California wage and hour law. [Note 4/30/18: It just happened. Read more here.]
Independent contractor relationships that have stood the test of time may be in jeopardy. And I don’t mean the (mildly?) entertaining Alex Trebek kind of Jeopardy. We’re talking real economic upheaval and uncertainty — worse than Schwarzenegger taking over Celebrity Apprentice.
Here’s the issue: Continue reading
It’s Valentine’s Day. You and your sweetie want to get away for the weekend. Your high school offspring will stay home. They seem responsible, promise not to break the law, and promise if they break anything they will pay for it. So you’re good, right?
Come on, wake up. Have you seen Risky Business? American Pie? House Party (very underrated movie, by the way)? Continue reading
It has become fairly common to take an outgoing employee and rebrand the employee as a consultant / independent contractor — either as part of a severance plan or to phase the employee into a retirement status. Continue reading
The all-time best song lyric is Bob Seger’s “I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then,” from Against the Wind. This is based on a comprehensive survey of 1 registered voter, but good enough.
Too many companies assume they don’t have an independent contractor misclassification problem because they have not yet been sued, audited, or investigated.
Remember how you could cover the eyes of small children and convince them you’ve disappeared? 
You didn’t disappear, though, did you? (Or, did you?!!) This is a fun little game but bad risk management strategy.
The better strategy is Continue reading
We’ve seen lots of exotic dancer cases lately (clarification for my wife: seen lots of cases, not dancers) where the dancers — apparently this is the preferred legal term for strippers — claim they have been misclassified as independent contractors.
Many of these claims have succeeded, but here’s an unusual way to lose class action status. This judge refused to certify the proposed class because of lack of experience of counsel. Thanks to my colleague, Greg Mersol (experienced counsel), for this post. Class dismissed!
Unlikely Lessons in Legal History, Edition 1.
Why lawyers use the term “exotic dancer” instead of stripper:
Lawyer’s Wife: Were you out cavorting with strippers again?
Lawyer: No.
© 2017 Todd Lebowitz, posted on WhoIsMyEmployee.com, Exploring Issues of Independent Contractor Misclassification and Joint Employment. All rights reserved.
The FMLA is full of traps for companies who use staffing agency workers, both for staff augmentation and temp-to-hire. Here are a few of the most common mistakes and how to avoid them:
photo credit: ransomtech Chimney Bluffs State Park via photopin (license)
1. Mistake: Not counting staffing agency time as service time, when determining whether the worker has worked for 12 months.
Tip: Staffing agency time counts. Add staffing agency time plus regular employee time to determine whether the worker has 12 months of service time. Accumulate all time worked during the past seven years. Continue reading
In August 2015, the NLRB rewrote the book on joint employment, declaring in the Browning-Ferris case that the right to exercise minimal control, even if not actually exercised, was enough to create a joint employment relationship. (Read more here.) Previously, joint employment under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) required the actual exercise of a meaningful level of control.
But what’s happened since then? What happens next? What should employers expect in 2017 regarding joint employment under the NLRA?
Let’s talk about good old-fashioned 1099 Independent Contractors — you know, those individuals who are happy to be called contractors until they’re released and then decide they should have been treated as employees.
When retaining a contractor, one of the goals, of course, is to ensure that the contractor is properly classified and is not really (factually) an employee. A secondary goal, however, is to limit liability if the contractor is misclassified.
Today’s question sits at the intersection of these two goals. Continue reading
Do you have a nanny or a housekeeper? A regular babysitter? If so, pay attention.
Anyone hiring a solo independent contractor in New York City will need to comply with the Freelance Isn’t Free Act, which takes effect May 15, 2017. Anyone. Individuals included.
The Act requires a written agreement for all contracts where the value of services is $800 or more, either in a single contract or in the aggregate over the past 120 days. Continue reading
You knew that college athletes were not employees of their schools, but did you know the legal reason why?
Let’s look at a recent case that arose under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
In early 2015, a group of student-athletes sued several schools and the NCAA, alleging that they had put in thousands of hours of work for the benefit of their school, without compensation. The student-athletes alleged that they should have been paid at least a minimum wage, as required under the FLSA.
Who Is My Employee? 