Commentary: Questionable Opinion About the Gig Economy

As OnLabor covered last week, the Department of Labor recently issued an “opinion letter” finding that the workers deriving income from an unnamed “virtual marketplace company” are independent contractors and …

Muslim Amazon employees say they fear taking time to pray at work, are discriminated against in several ways

Three Muslim employees at an Amazon warehouse in Minneapolis say they “have experienced discriminatory treatment, hostile work environment, retaliation, and constructive discharge” at work, according to a letter written by Muslim …

How Volkswagen Has Gotten Away With Union-Busting

Labor law is not workers’ law. That’s the lesson learned by pro-union workers at Volkswagen’s sole U.S. factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Workers filed for an election to join the United …

VAZQUEZ v JAN-PRO FRANCHISING

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the California Supreme Court’s landmark 2018 Dynamex decision, which makes it harder for businesses to classify their workers as independent contractors, …

California janitors may get labor law protections in wake of federal court decision

In a decision opening yet another front in the battle over how to classify workers, a federal appeals court Thursday ruled that an international franchiser could be forced to treat its California …

Law and Politics in Employee Classification

As has been widely reported, the U.S. Department of Labor issued an “opinion letter” yesterday concluding that an unnamed “virtual marketplace company” does not employ the workers who make the company …

DOL Wage and Hour Letter to Virtual Marketplace Company re Employment Status

The letter was written for an unnamed “virtual marketplace company” that operates in the gig economy. DOL described a VMC as an online and/or smartphone-based referral service that connects service …

Labor Dept. Says Workers at a Gig Company Are Contractors

The Labor Department weighed in Monday on a question whose answer could be worth billions of dollars to gig-economy companies as they begin selling shares to the public: Are their workers employees …

Opinion: Does the law protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination? It should be an easy answer.

The Supreme Court decided Monday to hear a trio of cases addressing a long-disputed and critically important question: whether discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is prohibited under the Civil …

SCOTUS Weighing LGBTQ Workers’ Rights: What’s At Risk

This morning, the Supreme Court granted cert. in three cases asking whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act’s prohibition on workplace discrimination based on sex also prohibits discrimination against LGBTQ workers. The Court …

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