In a June 9, 2023 filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) stated that its Independent Contractor (IC) Final Rule, addressing the standard for determining whether a worker is an employee or “independent contractor” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), will not be ready
Misclassification
Are Non-Emergency Transport Providers Employees or Independent Contractors? Jury Questions Exist, Eighth Circuit Holds
Reversing summary judgment in favor of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the Eighth Circuit has held that jury questions exist as to whether the defendant employed drivers who provide non-emergency medical transport services or whether it properly classified those drivers as independent contractors. Walsh v. Alpha & Omega USA, Inc., 2022 U.S. App.…
Property Damage Investigators Are Non-Exempt “Production” Employees, 11th Circuit Holds
Employees whose job it was to investigate and determine the likely cause of damage to the equipment of broadband service providers were misclassified as exempt by their employer, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently held. Therefore, the employees’ overtime claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) were improperly dismissed by the trial court.…
Forensic Photographer Trainee Takes Shot at Employee Status, But It Doesn’t Develop, 11th Circuit Rules
A forensic photographer who enrolled in a county training program was an intern and not an employee, a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held in a divided opinion. As a result, her minimum wage and overtime claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) were properly dismissed by the trial…
DOL Announces Plan to Issue New Independent Contractor Final Rule
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced its intention to issue a new final rule regarding the employee-vs.-independent contractor analysis under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). That announcement came by way of a June 3, 2022, blog post from Jessica Looman, Acting Director of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division. The current Independent…
FLSA’s Extended Limitations Period Requires Plausible Factual Pleadings, Second Circuit Holds
Because the plaintiff failed to allege any facts supporting his claim that his former employer acted willfully in failing to pay him overtime, he was not entitled to the FLSA’s extended, three-year statute of limitations. Therefore, as his claim was filed well after the standard two-year limitations period for such claims had expired, the trial…
Biden DOL Proposes Withdrawal of Former Administration’s Joint Employer and Independent Contractor Final Rules
On March 11, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRMs) to withdraw the Joint Employer and Independent Contractor Final Rules published during the previous administration.
The Joint Employer Final Rule
The Joint Employer Final Rule went into effect in January 2020 and addressed the standard for determining whether an…
As Expected, DOL Delays Independent Contractor Final Rule
On March 2, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) formally delayed the effective date of the Independent Contractor Final Rule, from March 8, 2021 to May 7, 2021. The Final Rule, published during the last two weeks of the prior administration, provides that “an individual is an independent contractor, as distinguished from an ‘employee’…
DOL Seeks to Delay Tip Regulations, Independent Contractor Final Rules
One day after President Biden entered office, the White House issued a memorandum directing all agencies to review, and consider delaying, any rules that had been issued by the former administration but that were not yet effective. Following that directive, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed delaying the effective dates of the recently-issued…
New Jersey Independent Contractor Bill Based on “ABC” Test Has Failed – For Now
On January 14, 2020, the latest session of the New Jersey legislature ended and, with it, so did Senate Bill (SB) 4204. The bill, which in many respects mirrored California’s recently-enacted Assembly Bill (AB) 5, sought to codify the “ABC test” as the proper method for determining whether an individual should be classified as an…