It’s been a bumpy road for the federal rules on independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
In the courts, the test has always focused on the “economic reality” of the relationship between a worker and the entity that benefits from the services provided to determine whether the worker is an employee or
On September 13, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted certification of a class of independent contractor drivers who delivered packages through Dynamex Operations East for Google Express. Ouadani v. Dynamex Operations East LLC, No. 16-12036, 2019 WL 4384061 (D. Mass. Sept. 13, 2019). Ouadani, a delivery driver, sued Dynamex
On July 23, 2015, the Second Circuit, in Lola v. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Tower Legal Staffing, Inc., revived a putative collective action brought by David Lola, a contract attorney, against Skadden and Tower Legal Staffing, Inc., alleging violations of the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Second Circuit held that the plaintiff adequately pled that document review may not necessarily constitute “practicing law” under North Carolina law.
On July 2nd, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued its decisions in Glatt et al. v. Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. et al. and Wang et al. v. The Hearst Corp., the two unpaid intern lawsuits heard in tandem by the court on January 30, 2015. The court’s opinion in Glatt, and summary order in Wang, adopted the employer-proposed “primary beneficiary” test to determine whether an unpaid intern should be considered an “employee” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and New York Labor Law (“NYLL”) and thus entitled to compensation.