I see yet another class action lawsuit involving preliminary and postliminary activities, such as, in this case, donning-and-duffing clothing. A group of workers has sued their employer, a steel fabricating
Continue Reading Yet Another Preliminary/Postliminary Class Action: More Of The Same
The issue of working time, especially the issue of preliminary and postliminary activities and what activities are compensable, haunts me as a practitioner and is confusing for employers. Many of
Continue Reading Another Call Center Case Finding Boot Up Time Is Compensable: What Else Is New?
When a company issues franchises, and the workers (in this case janitors) claim they are not independent contractors and sue the franchise company, can that “relationship” be posited as a
Continue Reading A Franchisee-Franchisor Relationship Cannot Be A Defense In An Independent Contractor ActionMany employers believe that if an employee (or many employees) perform a tiny amount of work, or work-like activity, before their shifts, that brief off-the-clock, activity cannot be “working time”
Continue Reading These Pre-Shift Working Time Cases Keep Popping Up–Employers Beware!
There are so many independent contractor cases that go against the employers that when one goes the other way, it is a big deal. That is what has just happened
Continue Reading Costco Wins Independent Contractor Case: Is The Tide (Hopefully) Changing?
In an off-beat case that revolved around the IRS twenty-factor test for independent contractor, an appellate court in Missouri has affirmed the state Labor Commission ruling that caretakers working for
Continue Reading Bow-Wow: Court Finds Pet Sitters Are Employees, Not Independent Contractors
The other day I went to the eye doctor and, before I could go in, an employee checked my temperature. This phenomenon is going to become perhaps a constant fact
Continue Reading The FLSA and Temperature Checks: The Doctrine of “Integral and Indispensable” Comes to the Forefront
I have defended many claims and lawsuits involving working time, especially travel time. Employees are continually seeking innovative ways to convert their otherwise non-compensable home-to-work travel into compensable work hours.
Continue Reading Working Time/Travel Time Case Thrown Out: No Integral Connection to Primary Duty
There is a tripartite test for independent contractor under the New Jersey Unemployment Compensation statute (and many other States), the so-called “ABC” test. Under this test, services performed by an
Continue Reading The Unemployment “ABC” Test for Independent Contractor Status: A Mount Everest for Unwary Employers