The two major ride-hailing services in the nation, Uber and Lyft, pretty much based their business model on the idea that drivers on their platforms are independent contractors. While that lowers the operating costs for Uber and Lyft, it makes their drivers ineligible for all of the…
Most workers may have heard about the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), yet few know its role. If an employee has heard of this federal law, then it’s likely because they have had problems in receiving information about or gaining access to health insurance, retirement or…
Cyberbullying is a distinctly modern issue — which means that many companies aren’t prepared to handle the difficulties it presents when it happens in the workplace. However, the recent shift to remote work by vast numbers of employees in many industries is drawing attention to this increasingly…
Have Uber and Lyft been guilty of misclassifying its drivers as independent contractors when they’re really employees? California thinks so. The state’s Attorney General, Xavier Bacerra, and the city attorneys from three major metropolitan areas within the state have filed a joint lawsuit against Uber and Lyft…
The weakening of the American union has made labor strikes less common than they once were — but they do still happen. Amazon warehouse employees, for example, recently staged a brief walkout in protest over what they said were unsafe working conditions. They were urging Amazon’s leadership…
Just this month, another news story broke about how restaurants are trying to skirt wage and employment laws. A popular Los Angeles restaurant has been fined $2.1 million for a variety of labor violations. The California Labor Commission’s investigators performed an audit of the Genwa Korean BBQ…
There are a bunch of new laws going into effect on Jan. 1, 2020 in California — and both employers and employees are bracing for the repercussions. Here’s an overview of some of the big changes to employment laws and employee rights in the new year that…
Employers, if you have been using a forced arbitration clause as a condition of employment, you have some decisions to make. As of January 2020, California Assembly Bill 51 (AB 51) takes the teeth out of most of those old employment provisions. Essentially, AB 51 prohibits employers…
How do you know you’re an independent contractor and not an employee? (If your answer is, “Because my boss told me so,” you may want to keep reading.) The “gig economy” is very popular right now in America, partially because it allows people to work a schedule…
It’s nice to think that all the kids who start out as bullies on the playground grow up and become decent people. However, the reality is that some people are just bullies all their lives. If your boss happens to be one of them, you may have…
