This is a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court case from 2013 but it came up in a conversation I was having this week. This report of the case comes from Foley Hoag and Christopher Feudo and Michael Rosen discuss the case in which individuals working in New York for a Massachusetts company signed an agreement saying that Massachusetts law…
From JDSupra, Mark Tabakman reports on a settlement between Harvard University and therapists and acupuncturists who alleged that they were misclassified as independent contractors. Mark writes: [Harvard University] has just recently agreed to revise its university-wide worker classification system as part of a settlement of a class action involving allegations of misclassification. The case is entitled Donahue…
From MassLive.com, Shira Schoenberg reports that the Massachusetts Appeals Court found that a newspaper carrier was an employee and not an independent contractor. Shira writes: A Massachusetts Appeals Court has ruled that newspaper carriers for a major Massachusetts media company must be classified as employees, not independent contractors. The case has larger implications for the…
From MassLive, Shira Schoenberg reports that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is considering a case in which a newspaper deliverer was classified as an independent contractor and was injured. Shira writes: If a newspaper delivery person gets hurt on the job, should she be eligible for workers compensation? The answer depends on whether she is an…
From the Gloucester Times, Mary Markos reports that judge found a taxi driver to be an employee and not an independent contractors. The judge’s conclusion is different from the decision by the Supreme Judicial Court when it considered whether Boston taxi drivers challenged their classification as an independent contractor. See These Taxi Drivers Are Not Employees Says Massachusetts…
From the National Law Review, Robert Sheridan reviews the developments in 2016 in employment law in Massachusetts including a court decision that said that the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (“FAAAA”) preempts Massachusetts’ stringent independent contractor statute. Robert writes: A Federal Law Preempts, in Part, Enforcement of Massachusetts’ Independent Contractor Statute Against Motor…
The Massachusetts Attorney General released a statement saying that a drywall company agreed to pay $500,000 to resolve allegations that it misclassified workers as independent contractors. The statements says: A New Hampshire drywall company and its owner have agreed to a $500,000 settlement to resolve allegations that they misclassified employees as independent contractors on…
From JDSupra, Barry Waters discusses a recent case in which the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) said that the Massachusetts independent contractor statute might apply to individuals who provide services through a corporation. Barry writes: The Court cited the following factors from a Massachusetts Attorney General advisory to determine if the corporate form represents a legitimate…
Reuters reports that Massachusetts requires background checks for Lyft and Uber drivers starting in January. Nov 28 Massachusetts next year will require ride service companies including Uber and Lyft to perform the strictest background checks in the United States on all of their drivers, according to a deal reached with the companies on Monday.…
There have been multiple cases in Massachusetts in which parties claim that the Federal Aviation Administration Act (FAAA) preempts the Massachusetts independent contractor statute. State laws that affect the rates, routes, or services of transportation providers are preempted by the FAAA. In Rice v. Diversified Specialty Pharmacy, LLC, et al. (Curran, J.) (Middlesex Superior Court)…