From Crain’s Chicago Business, Greg Hinz reports that an influential Illinois representative is considering legislation to help gig workers. Greg writes: A key Illinois lawmaker says he’s preparing to follow the lead of California, which recently adopted legislation to require that workers for Uber and others in the “gig economy” be legally treated as employees rather than independent contractors.…
From the Madison-St. Clair Record, Karen Kidd reports that a State Farm agent has alleged that he was misclassified as an independent contractor. Karen writes: An Illinois-based insurance and financial services company said it is certain one of its Madison County agents is an independent contractor, despite the agent’s recently filed putative class action that…
From Lexology, Jessica E. Chang and Johner T. Wilson III report on new legislation in Illinois that extends protections from harassment to non-employees, including independent contractors. Jessica and Johner write: Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed comprehensive legislation on Aug. 9 aimed to prevent sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. This omnibus legislation, which will go into…
From HR Dive, Lisa Burden reports that a surgeon who was an independent contractor at a hospital was not entitled to protection from discrimination under Title VII of the Civil rights Act of 1964. Lisa writes: Because Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 only applies to employees, an Illinois hospital was successful…
From Smith Armundsen Labor & Employment Law Update, Amanda Biondolino discusses the risks of misclassifying workers as independent contractors. She writes: When a worker is classified as an independent contractor, the employer is not liable for federal tax withholding, payment of state unemployment tax, maintaining workers compensation insurance or compliance with state and federal wage and…
From Lexology, Patrick M. DePoy and Michael A. Warner, Jr. discuss an Illinois case in which the court said that an arbitrator had to determine if a driver was an employee or independent contractor before the driver could proceed with a class action lawsuit. Patrick and Michael write: Last week, a U.S. District Court Judge in Illinois ruled…
From the National Law Review, Bradford Peterson discusses three cases with similar facts that did not have the same results in determining whether an owner-operator is an employee or independent contractor. Bradford writes: Decisions by the Illinois Appellate Courts led to conflicting decisions despite substantially similar facts. In Earley v. Industrial Commission, 197 Ill. App. 3d 309 (4th…
From HR.BLR.com, Steven Brenneman discusses a recent case in which drivers for a restaurant were misclassified as independent contractors. Steven writes: The pivotal issue was whether (despite the “independent contractor” agreements they had signed) the drivers were actually employees (and thereby entitled to minimum wages and overtime) for purposes of the FLSA and the…
Philip Bareck discusses the ability of an independent contractor to file a workers compensation claim in Illinois if the company exercises too much control. Philip writes: The Supreme Court Gets Involved Starting in the 1990’s, company’s began reclassifying employees as independent contractors. They did this to shift the tax burden to their employees and strengthen their bottom…
FindLaw reports a case before the workers compensation appellate division in Illinois in which a truck driver was seeking workers compensation benefits from a company that was in the business of transporting machinery. The court set forth the factors to be considered and then applied the factors to the truck driver’s situation. The court’s detailed analysis…