In a recently-released Advice Memorandum dated April 16, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) Office of the General Counsel (“GC”) determined that drivers utilizing Uber Technologies’ smartphone application-based rideshare platform are independent contractors, not employees, under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”).  In arriving at this conclusion, the GC utilized the independent contractor test announced earlier this year in the NLRB’s decision  SuperShuttle DFW, Inc., which we reported about here.  In SuperShuttle, the…

On Monday, April 29, 2019, the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) Wage and Hour Division issued an opinion letter in response to an inquiry from an anonymous “virtual marketplace company” (“VMC”) concerning whether individuals who provide services through the VMC (“service providers”) are employees or are independent contractors for purposes of federal wage and hour laws.  As defined by the DOL, a virtual marketplace company is “an online and/or smartphone-based referral service that [through…

The Court’s ruling in Lamps Plus, Inc., et al. v. Varela is the latest in the Court’s ongoing pro-employer, pro-arbitration jurisprudence As we first reported here, the United States Supreme Court’s docket this term includes three significant cases interpreting various aspects of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”).  Earlier this year, the Court ruled in the first of those cases, Henry Schein, et al. v. Archer & White Sales, Inc. (see our discussion here),…

On March 28, 2019, the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking announcing proposed updates to the rules that govern how employers calculate overtime payments under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”).  As a reminder, the FLSA requires employers to pay additional compensation to non-exempt employees for work that exceeds forty hours in a work week.  Overtime is paid at a rate of time-and-one-half, usually using an employee’s “regular rate”…

Most business owners would shudder at the thought of rats being on their premises, but one rat is particularly unwelcome to employers – “Scabby the Rat.”  This red-eyed, rather vicious looking rat-shaped balloon (sometimes as tall as 25 feet) has become a symbol used by labor unions across the country to publicize that they have a dispute with an employer. No stranger to the courts, Scabby has been the subject of many legal challenges from…

Our colleague Brent Owen at the FrESH Law Blog (which covers perspectives on Environmental, Safety, and Health law) authored the post below addressing the US Supreme Court’s upcoming decision in Kisor v. Wilkie, which will address the Auer standard of deference that is applied by the courts to administrative agencies’ interpretations of their regulations.  Although Kisor involves the Department of Veterans Affairs, the ruling is anticipated to have broad implications for agency action, including agencies that regulate employment…

In 2006, Arizona voters approved a ballot measure which resulted in the passage of the Arizona Minimum Wage Act and established a state-wide minimum wage (currently $11.00/hour).  This law also permitted individual Arizona counties, cities, and towns to regulate both the minimum wage and the employee benefits to be provided by private employers located within their geographic boundaries.  That meant that local governments could establish a minimum wage higher (but not lower) than the statewide…