Articles Posted in misclassification

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A California employment lawsuit against ride-sharing service Lyft was settled with an interesting compromise. driver

Workers involved in the class-action lawsuit asserted they were in fact employees, entitled to all the legal protections that entails. However, the mobile app argued the drivers were independent contractors, meaning they wouldn’t be entitled to minimum wage, workers’ compensation, overtime and other benefits.

Now, Reuters reports the company has agreed to expand certain worker protections and it’s paying $12.25 million to the drivers who are party to the lawsuit. However, it has not agreed to label the drivers employees. For the business, this eliminates a significant threat to its business model, but it could still leave drivers in a vulnerable place.  Continue Reading ›

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If a worker is classified as an independent contractor, then by the classification’s very nature, the worker is not an employee. In many industries there is a lot of worker misclassification. One of the biggest industries with worker misclassification problems is the construction industry, and, in California, there are a lot of construction workers.

farm-field-views-1444353-mThe reason employers often to try classify all the workers as independent contractors is because it is cheaper when you do not have a pay a worker overtime or give him or her any benefits. Continue Reading ›

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In the past few years, we have been hearing a lot about what is being called cyber terrorism. Whether it involves breaking into government computers and breaching personal data on hundreds of thousands of employees and their families, hacking a Department of Defense database, or hacking Sony’s computer network to prevent the release of a major motion picture, cyber terrorism is becoming a major concern.

circuit-board-1-1387982-mTo help address this problem, the tech firms in California, especially, are working on new services they refer to as technology information security systems, and that means there are a lot of jobs being created. According to a recent news report from CBS Los Angeles, many of these new jobs are being created right here in Los Angeles and Orange County.   Continue Reading ›

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Southern California employment law attorneys know there have been a series of lawsuits arising from the misclassification of workers as contractors instead of as employees. Now, Engadget indicates that drivers who work for Amazon.com have joined the list of workers who believe they were incorrectly classified as independent contractors, thus receiving none of the workplace protections and employee benefits that they deserve. cargo-delivery-1543708

Four drivers who worked for Prime Now have filed the initial claims against Amazon, and more may pursue claims as the drivers seek class action status following a September ruling by a judge allowing three Uber drivers to file class action litigation.

Were Amazon Drivers Misclassified?

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Going on strike is not something anyone really wants to do. While it may be empowering to finally make an employer feel the effects of unfair labor practices, it is not easy to live without a paycheck. For that reason, workers who are forced to go on strike hope their employer will not be able to financially weather the strike and will cave before the strikers do.

truck-1192536-mAccording to a recent news article from The Nation, dozens of workers at the California Cartage warehouse went on strike. The Cartage Warehouse is part of the Port of Los Angeles and employs large numbers of Longshoremen’s Union members, as it has throughout its storied past. The Los Angeles ports have been the site of many disputes between workers and management over the years, much like the large ports and shipping piers in major cities across the country. In addition to longshore worker strikes, we are now seeing trucker strikes and warehouse worker strikes. The ports are staffed by members of the various unions. Continue Reading ›

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When most people think of technology industry jobs in California, they are thinking of the Silicon Valley and other areas in the northern part of the state; however Los Angles and Southern California are the areas experiencing the most sector growth, according to a recent news article form CBS Los Angeles.

keyboard-1280072-mWith the increase in tech and tech jobs in our area, many now consider Los Angeles to be leading the nation in terms of tech job employment and economic growth. Part of this is due to the influx of “behemoth” global technology companies into the city of Los Angeles and the Southern California area, along with the emergence of many tech start ups that have decided to make Los Angeles their home.

While many of these startups may ultimately not be successful, the ones that are will need to hire a lot of employees. Many of the most needed jobs are in web development, coding, and software engineering.   This is a good fit for the area, with a large number of schools teaching these highly technical subject areas. Continue Reading ›

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Most people living in Los Angeles are familiar with Uber and how the company and its competitors operate.   When a person needs a ride, he or she can take out a smartphone, open the company app and request a driver to come to a given location.

smartphone1Drivers working for the company own their own vehicles and have to pay for a company-owned smartphone that allows them to respond to requests for rides. If they accept a ride request, they must pick up the passenger and take him or her to the desired destination. There is no exchange of money, because the company debits the money from customer’s account and pays the driver after taking a percentage. There is no need to tip a driver, because that is supposedly covered in the company transaction. Continue Reading ›

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We often hear about the unemployment rate when the economy is down.   In good times like we are experiencing now, the employment rate in California has been rising steadily, and it’s important to note that too.

New data released by the California Economic Development Department suggests this trend is likely to continue, according to one recent article from the San Francisco Bay News.

city-corporate-growth-1029092-mNumbers released in July show the state unemployment rate has fallen to 6.2 percent. The previous rate for the month of June was 6.1 percent, so these numbers are slightly better, which is a good sign.

However, because to month-to-month fluctuations can and do happen without regard to the national and local economy, it is often helpful to look at year-over-year rates. Last year at this time, the California unemployment rate was 7.4 percent. Unlike the 0.1 percent rise we saw from June to July of this year, we can see that the unemployment rate has fallen significantly overall in the past year. Continue Reading ›

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According to a recent news report from The Denver Post, there is a new “employment/layoff” paradigm at work in the United States, and it is blaming the victims of this system

advertisementThe article begins with an account from a worker who was employed by a major corporation. This employee worked around 50 hours per week, and the company always paid overtime for hours in excess of 40 per week. However, this all changed when the company changed this employee over to an independent contractor following a routine layoff. Under the new contract, he was paid a flat rate for 37 hours a week, but the company still demanded the same level of work from him as it did when he was working 50 hours per week. In other words, they wanted to cut his pay and cut his benefits, but still get the same productivity Continue Reading ›

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A class action lawsuit filed in California’s Northern District Court asserts the drivers who work for Uber are wrongly classified as independent contractors when in fact they should be employees.smartphone1

The ride-sharing service, one of several to crop up in recent years, shot back with a motion asserting the workers are independent contractors, as they have little or nothing in common with one another, aside from having downloaded the company’s digital application at some point in the last six years.

In California, there are approximately 160,000 Uber drivers, and many hundreds of thousands more across the country. Drivers do download an app, which is then accessed by customers who need transportation. In this multi-billion dollar on-demand economy, there are numerous pending cases that question the classification of workers. Continue Reading ›

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