From JDSupra, Howard Bloom, Rachel Muñoz, and Philip Rosen report that a 3 member panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Seattle ordinance that a law allows independent contractor drivers to organize. They write: A landmark law giving drivers of app-based transportation companies, such as Uber and Lyft, the right to collectively bargain is not…
From the Recorder, Erin Mulvaney reports that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said that the Seattle ordinance that allowed independent contractors to organize and unionize violated federal antitrust provisions. Erin writes: A federal appeals court on Friday revived a challenge to a Seattle law that would allow ride-hailing drivers to unionize, sending the first-of-its-kind local ordinance…
From Fortune, Monica Stonier, a Washington state representative, makes a case for offering benefits to independent workers. Monica writes: From Amazon(AMZN, -0.42%) and Microsoft(MSFT, +1.13%) to Expedia(EXPE, -0.39%) and Intel(INTC, +0.85%) , my home state of Washington is headquarters to many of the world’s leading technology firms. The tech industry is the one of the largest employers in the state—an engine that is…
From JDSupra, Richard Meneghello reports that the 9th Circuit has delayed the implementation of the Seattle ordinance that allows drivers to unionize. Richard writes: Chalk this round up to the unions. In a pair of decisions issued last week, a Seattle federal judge ruled that Seattle’s January 2016 Ordinance that seeks to allow for-hire drivers to form…
From Geekwire, Nat Levy reports that a Washington judge dismissed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce lawsuit challenging Seattle’s law that allows Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize. Nat writes: Seattle’s first-of-its-kind unionization law for drivers of services like Uber and Lyft got a big win in court Tuesday when a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought…
From JDSupra, Richard Meneghello discusses a proposal in Washington that would create a system of portable benefits. Richard writes: We’ve written before about a proposal in New York that would permit gig companies to pay into a benefit fund for workers allowing them freedom to develop portable benefits; now, Washington state is considering a similar concept.…
From JDSupra, Richard J. Reibstein discusses a case in Washington in which an employee moved to another state and allegedly was required to be an independent contractor even though she was still performing the same duties she had been as an employee. While the headline sparks interest by identifying the employee as transgender, this…
From Baker Hostetler’s Employment Class Action Blog, Gilbert Brosky discusses the recent Washington case in which the court said that there were were varying experiences among the members of the proposed class which meant that there needed to be an inquiry into the facts of each situation. As a result, the court said the members…
In B. & R Sales v. Washington Dept. of Labor & Industries, (2015 WL 1035902, 2015), the court upheld a lower court ruling that workers who were hired to install floor coverings were employees and not independent contractors. The case arose when B & R was required to pay workers compensation premiums for floor covering…
From the The Bellingham Herald — “Fortunately, Washington is one of the states aggressively chasing the cheaters. Olympian reporter Melissa Santos found that in 2013 state Labor & Industries caught 14 percent of the nearly 4,000 employers it audited misclassifying workers. Although the state recovered the $12.7 million in unpaid workers’ compensation premiums, it sent only three…