07.13.17
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Misclassification settlement strips $6 million from Club Assets

IMG_1090When I was an undergrad at Michigan, any time I would drive to the airport or to Tiger Stadium, I’d see billboards for Deja Vu, a strip club with (apparently) lots of locations. I never visited (not into that sort of thing, thanks for asking), and I never thought much of it. I certainly did not expect to be writing about Deja Vu and independent contractor misclassification 25 years later. But here goes.

When patrons of these fine establishments partake in the traditional lap dance, it’s doubtful they’re thinking about whether these often-single-mom “entertainers” who are just trying to make a living have been properly classified under wage and hour law. More likely, they’re thinking about — never mind.

But that’s an important issue, as Deja Vu recently learned, when it was sued by a class of 28,177 dancers alleging they were misclassified as independent contractors, rather than Continue reading →

07.10.17
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Two Key Developments in Joint Employment are Expected This Week

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This could be a busy week for developments in the joint employment area.

1) Congressional Republicans have begun drafting legislation that could change the definition of joint employment, Bloomberg BNA reports. Presumably the goals of a new bill would be (a) to add clarity to the standards for deciding who is a joint employer, and (b) to make it more difficult for workers or unions to claim they are jointly employed.

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07.06.17
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New NLRB Nominations May Lead to New Joint Employment Test (or to my misuse of Lynyrd Skynyrd song lyrics)

IMG_1088In the Lynyrd Skynyrd song, “Gimme Three Steps,” we find our hero cutting a rug down at a place called The Jug with a girl named Linda Lou. This catchy song has nothing to do with labor law but does deal with someone who finds himself in a bad situation (shakin’ like a leaf on a tree!) and needs three steps to get out the back door.

Same thing here (in a sense). [C’mon, work with me here, I’m trying to make NLRB appointments interesting!]. When not posting tweets of himself pummeling a photoshopped CNN logo outside a WWE ring, President Trump found the time to make two important nominations to fill vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), giving companies two of the three steps needed to undo a long list of anti-business decisions from the past eight years.

The two new appointmnents, once confirmed, will shift the Board back to a 3-2 Republican majority, which should spell relief for businesses in several areas — including joint employment. (Two appointments = two steps. There’s a third step coming.  Wait for it….)

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07.03.17
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Avoid These FMLA Traps with Joint Employment

nurse - FMLA leave and joint employment-359321_1920The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is already one of the hardest employment laws to comply with. Add joint employment into the mix, and the level of difficulty further increases.

Here are some pointers for handling FMLA issues when joint employment is likely to exist:

Issue 1: Is there Joint Employment?

To determine whether two companies are joint employers under the FMLA, the Economic Realities Test is used. This is the same test used under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). (See this post for a recent development that threatens to expand the definition of joint employment under the FLSA.)

The DOL has advised that in most staffing agency relationships, there is joint employment.

Issue 2: How Does Joint Employment Affect An Employee’s FMLA Eligibility?

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06.28.17
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The DOL Wants You to Know Its Opinions (Here’s Why That’s Good News!)

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Everybody has an opinion, so why not share?

This week, Labor Secretary Alex Acosta announced that the WHD will resume its prior practice of issuing opinion letters to advise on difficult wage and hour issues. This is good news for companies and employees because it increases predictability.

An opinion letter is an official, written opinion by the WHD of how a particular law applies to a specific set of circumstances presented by an employer or employee. The benefit to the general public is that opinion letters are published and may be relied upon.

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06.26.17
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What Role Does the EEOC Play in Independent Contractor Misclassification?

IMG_1081The EEOC’s jurisdiction is limited to claims brought under certain federal anti-discrimination laws. The reach of these laws, however, is limited to employees. It is not a violation of Title VII, for example, to discriminate against an independent contractor.

So the EEOC has nothing to do with issues of independent contracor misclassification, right? Wrong.

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06.22.17
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California May Tip The Scales, When It Comes to Tipping Independent Contractor Drivers

IMG_1078Should ride-hailing services (like Uber and Lyft) be required to offer a tip option if you pay by credit card? A proposed California law says yes.

A.B. 1099, passed by the California Assembly and headed to the State Senate, would require modification of these mobile apps to support credit card tipping. The bill, in its current form, takes no position as to whether these drivers are independent contractors or employees, instead calling them “workers,” but the proposed law is another attempt to legislate controls on the gig economy, rather than letting free market forces play out.

Gov. Jerry Brown has not taken a posiiton on the bill, and it may or may not survive in the California Senate.

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06.19.17
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When an Employee Double-Dips On a Paycheck, Who Pays?

Remember this?

Suppose the chip is a check, and the employee tries to cash it twice? Who would you rather be, Costanza or Timmy?

Staffing agency clients are increasingly pointing to a fraud committed by disloyal short-term employees. They cash a paycheck on their mobile app, then deposit the paper check a second time for duplicate payment. The check clears twice. Who must pay?

While this problem can arise in many scenarios, including with regular W-2 employees, it seems to be occurring more frequently with staffing agency employees, PEOs, temps, and other short-term workers. So let’s take a look.

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06.15.17
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Five (More) Signs Your Independent Contractor May Be Properly Classified

IMG_1079Last week I posted Five Signs Your Independent Contractor May Be Properly Classified. While I feel pretty good about the post, I also feel like there’s more where that came from. So here goes.

Five More Signs Your Independent Contractor May Be Properly Classified:

  1. The contractor has its own employees. Since contractors are in business for themselves, they should be free to hire their own employees. If they actually do, chalk up a few points.
  2. The contractor pays its own expenses. One indicator of a legitimate independent contractor relationship is that the contractor, if a sound businessperson, will earn a profit but, if a poor businessperson, will incur a loss. The profit/loss determination is often a function of how well the contractor prices its services. If you reimburse a contractor for all of its expenses, the risk of loss is generally removed. Legitimate independent contractors should be bearing some risk.
  3. The contractor works from its own office space. The flexibility to work wherever and whenever suggests proper classification as an independent contractor.
  4. The contractor works using its own tools and equipment. That’s more evidence that the contractor is running its own business and has more opportunity to incur a net loss.
  5. The contractor carries its own insurance. When a contractor carries the types of insurance typically carried by a business, the contractor is likely operating as a business. Look for General Commercial Liability and Workers Comp coverage.

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06.12.17
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Joint Employment Is Like Taking Steroids By Accident

athlete-joint employment - staffing agency - 1840437_1920It seems like every month another professional athlete is caught using a prohibited substance. The typical script (after getting caught) is to blame the maker of a supplement. “I should have more carefully checked the label,” or “I had no way of knowing what was in that synthetic elephant urine.”

Fair or unfair, every athlete knows that he/she is responsible for what goes into the athlete’s body, whether the juicing was intentional or not.

The same rule applies to companies who use staffing agencies.

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