On June 4, 1923, jockey Frank Hayes rode 20-1 long shot Sweet Kiss to victory at Belmont Park. While that seems impressive, what made the win even more memorable is that at some point during the race, poor Frank died. He somehow stayed on the horse and ended up in the winner’s circle. Or six … Continue Reading
Remember when TV news was on at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. and that was it? Every once in a while, there would be a Breaking News! alert, and it was always something really important. They wouldn’t interrupt Diff’rent Strokes for just anything. (Bonus points if you remembered there was an apostrophe in the title … Continue Reading
Have you heard of Schrödinger’s cat? It’s not a real cat, like Felix or Brian Setzer. It’s a hypothetical, seemingly impossible cat that exists only in the world of quantum physics. Schrödinger’s cat refers to a thought experiment in which a cat in a box is simultaneously alive and dead, until you open the box … Continue Reading
The California Supreme Court has concluded that the ABC Test it developed for determining whether a worker is an independent contractor or employee applies retroactively. Therefore, the ABC Test, first developed in the Court’s Dynamex decision, applies to California wage and hour claims implicating a time period prior to issuance of the Dynamex decision on … Continue Reading
This octopus in New Zealand has been trained to take photos of visitors to the Sea Life Aquarium. That’s a pretty neat trick. I’m sure the visitors love it and will pay whatever exorbitant fee the aquarium charges to profit on the back of its cephalopod slave labor, but will the photos last? Do the … Continue Reading
Soda or pop? Pill bug or roly poly? What you call things depends on where you live. In 2014, the New York Times published this 25-question dialect quiz that will tell you, with startling accuracy, where you or your parents are from. The test is fun, and you can see how words and dialects vary … Continue Reading
When outside forces pose a threat to people’s livelihood, people will go to great lengths to fight back. For example, when monkeys began ravaging the crops of a farmer in Karnataka, India, the imaginative farmer painted his dog to look like a tiger, to scare away the pesky invaders. [Photo here.] Business owners in California … Continue Reading
For years, state governments have claimed they were losing hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid withholdings as a result of independent contractor misclassification. Now, one state is making a grab for a massive piece of that pie — all at once. On November 12, the state of New Jersey sent a bill to Uber … Continue Reading
On Oct. 13, 2019, New York City enacted Int. 136-A (the Law), expanding the employment protections of the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) to freelancers and independent contractors. The Law will take effect on Jan. 11, 2020. The NYCHRL applies to employers with four or more employees. The Law changes the counting rule … Continue Reading
Did the new Labor Secretary finally throw employers a bone? We think so, but it’s too early to tell whether it’s delicious bacon-flavored or some generic processed meat flavor. On June 7, 2017, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced it was withdrawing the 2015 and 2016 informal guidance on joint employment and independent contractor misclassification. The … 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 … Continue Reading
When I get lost (which is often, say my kids), I turn to a map. Fortunately, I always have my iPhone on me, so the Maps app can generally get me where I am going. The Wage and Hour Division needs no map to find where it wants to go. In a 15-page release dated … Continue Reading
The all-time best The Far Side cartoon (based on an unscientific survey, sample size of me) is the one with two deer standing in the forest, one with a red circular target imprinted on its chest. The other deer says, “Bummer of a birthmark, Hal.” Poor Hal. Blessed with the ability to walk upright, but … Continue Reading
Things that $228 Million will buy: – LeBron James’s waterfront mansion in Miami, listed for $15 million – A 710-year old copy of the Magna Carta, sold in 2007 for $21.3 million – The Oakland A’s, sold in 2005 for $180 million – Three personal submarines, at $2 million each; and – Tivi Island in Fiji (yes, the whole island), available … Continue Reading
An ice cream parlor in Dania Beach, Florida, features The Original Kitchen Sink Sundae, which contains up to 30 scoops, plus chocolate syrup, marshmallows, nuts, whipped cream, and a variety of berries. Customers can choose from any of the 38 flavors offered, and this menu item has earned Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlor plenty of positive … Continue Reading
Everyone’s looking for volunteers. The Salvation Army recruits helpers with the promise of “Doing the most good.” Volunteers of America invites participation by reminding the public “There are no limits to caring.” Even Disney’s Haunted Mansion seeks new recruits, reminding guests at the end of the doom buggy tour, “We have 999 happy haunts here, … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded $10.2 million in grants to 19 states for continued independent contractor misclassification detection and enforcement. The grants are focused on unemployment insurance programs and, more specifically, companies’ failure to pay unemployment insurance premiums for workers treated as independent contractors but whom the states deem to be employees. This … Continue Reading
For companies using independent contractors in California, 2014 has been a difficult year, with several significant court decisions threatening the contractor model. In June, the Ninth Circuit rejected the parties’ choice of Georgia law in an independent contractor agreement and found that the contractor was an employee under California law. Later that month, the California … Continue Reading
Editor’s Note: This blog post is a joint submission with BakerHostetler’s Employment Class Action Blog. Last month we blogged about two Ninth Circuit opinions that deemed FedEx Ground drivers to be employees rather than independent contractors under California and Oregon law. Last week the Kansas Supreme Court joined them, applying Kansas law to reach the … Continue Reading
The NLRB has tossed a new vegetable into the enormous salad of independent contractor misclassification tests. As companies might expect, the new vegetable smells rotten. Companies who wish to analyze whether their non-employee workers are properly classified as independent contractors must now contend with a new NLRB test, in addition to the IRS Right to … Continue Reading
The brain teaser game, What am I? can keep kids and adults occupied for hours: The more you take of me, the more I leave behind. What am I? I have a face but no eyes, hands but no arms. What am I? I disappear every time you say my name. What am I? (Don’t … Continue Reading
When Washington Hospital obtained an insurance policy in 2003 to cover medical claims arising from acts by its employees, its insurer probably did not consider whether hospital employees included workers supplied by a staffing agency. It should have. The issue of whether a staffing agency nurse was a joint employee of the hospital turned into … Continue Reading
Delivering another blow to the independent contractor model, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held this week that furniture delivery drivers for Affinity Logistics were employees under California law, not independent contractors. In Ruiz v. Affinity Logistics Corporation, the Court of Appeals rejected the district court’s conclusion that Affinity’s drivers were independent contractors, a decision … Continue Reading
Worker misclassification is now a bet-the-company issue. On February 21, 2004, the Illinois Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge to Illinois’s Employee Classification Act (the “ECA”), a law that defines most individuals who perform construction-related services as employees of the company who retains them, even if the relationship is set up as an independent contractor … Continue Reading