By: Maital Savin, Associate Last month, Uber settled two class action lawsuits with its drivers in California and Massachusetts for $100 million, allowing Uber to continue treating those drivers as independent contractors. Of course, the settlement left the million-dollar-question (or more accurately, the billion-dollar-question) of whether its drivers are employees or […]

By: Maital Savin, Associate On 5/26/16, in Lewis v. Epic Systems Corp., 15-cv-02997, the Seventh Circuit held that class action waivers in arbitration agreements are unenforceable, creating a circuit split. In Lewis v. Epic, the arbitration agreement at issue provided that employees waived “the right to participate in or receive […]

By: Storrs Downey, Capital Member Keeping employment issues out of courts and administrative agencies is certainly something employers should strive for. The following are effective ways to reduce litigation and minimize exposure once a suit or claim has been filed. 1/Early Intervention Once you learn of an employee complaint of […]

By: Maital Savin, Associate On 1/20/16, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued guidance on joint employment under the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA). This new guidance aggressively expanded the definition of employment to include arrangements that employers may not […]

By: Storrs Downey, Capital Member Two recent jury verdicts involving workers who claimed retaliatory discharge remind us of the costly exposure employers might face when they terminate an employee who was injured at work. In January 2016, a Cook County jury awarded an injured worker $2.6 million, including $2.5 million […]

By: Maital Savin, Associate Two recent Seventh Circuit decisions could be very helpful to employers defending against disability discrimination and accommodation claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA prohibits employment disability discrimination and requires employers to attempt to reasonably accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities. Although the 2008 […]