In a recent advise memorandum, the National Labor Relations Board set forth its position that drivers for the rideshare company Uber are independent contractors, not employees, for purposes of the National Labor Relations Act.
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As State Paid Family Leave Laws Increase, U.S. Congress Considers Nationwide Paid Family Leave
The current trend at both the state and federal levels is moving in the direction of mandatory paid family leave. For example, in recent years, 6 states (California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington) and the District of Columbia have enacted mandatory paid family leave benefits for employees. Moreover, at least 18 other states are currently considering some form of paid family leave legislation.
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SCOTUS Rejects Employer’s Attempt to Compel Arbitration of Independent Contractor’s Class Claim
In a rare win for plaintiffs seeking to avoid arbitration, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a trucking company’s attempt to compel arbitration in a driver’s proposed minimum wage class action. The Court held that the Federal Arbitration Act’s exemption for interstate transportation workers applies not only to employees, but also to those classified as independent contractors.
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21 States Raise Minimum Wage in 2019
As the new year gets off to a start, employers in the retail industry will be making wage adjustments to meet current and future minimum wage increases. Employees in 21 states around the country will see their state’s minimum wage increase.
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California Federal Court First to Require Class Action Settlement Data To Be Made Public
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California is a popular venue for class action lawsuits. As of November 1, 2018, it is also the first to require parties settling such lawsuits to make broad public disclosures regarding the settlements.
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Proposed Changes to Class Action Rules Covering Notice, Settlements, Objections, and Appeals Awaiting Approval of Congress
The Supreme Court recently approved substantial changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, including amendments to Rule 23, which covers federal class actions. The amendments to Rule 23 seek to modernize and standardize the notice, settlement, objection, and appeal procedures. If Congress approves the amendments, they will become effective December 1, 2018.
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Supreme Court Rejects Notion That FLSA Exemptions Should Be “Narrowly Construed”
A single paragraph in an otherwise routine Supreme Court opinion could have reverberations in FLSA exemption cases for years to come. While the case resolved a circuit split for a discrete exemption, the Court’s decision has broad implications for all employers.
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DOL Expresses Interest in Banning “Tip-Skimming”
The practice of “tip-pooling,” which refers to the sharing of tips between “front-of-house” staff (servers, waiters, bartenders) and “back-of-house” staff (chefs and dishwashers), has been in the news recently as the Trump Department of Labor seeks to roll back a 2011 Obama-era rule limiting the practice under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
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NLRB Overturns Prior Precedent, Eliminates “Micro Units” and Discards “Overwhelming Community of Interest” Standard
During a week that brought several notable decisions, the National Labor Relations Board issued a ruling on Friday, December 15, 2017, overturning its controversial 2011 Specialty Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center of Mobile, 357 NLRB 934 (2011) (“Specialty Healthcare”) , which held that in order for employees to be included in a collective bargaining unit, employers had to prove the employees shared an “overwhelming community of interest” with one another.
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NLRB Overrules Browning-Ferris to Reinstate Prior Joint-Employer Standard
The National Labor Relations Board issued a much-anticipated decision on Thursday, overruling its controversial 2015 Browning-Ferris decision that unions and employees argued drastically expanded the definition and scope of the Board’s joint-employer doctrine. In Browning-Ferris, the Board departed from decades of precedent and held that entities who merely possessed—as opposed to directly and immediately exercised—control over workers would be deemed joint employers for purposes of assessing liability under the National Labor Relations Act.
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