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Nov
01

More Overtime Class Actions by Temps

2 min read
Oct
30

Salary Transparency Update

1 min read
Oct
30

California Paid Sick Leave Expanding

1 min read
Oct
26

Two Staffing Agencies Fall Victim to Classic Payrolling Scam

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is... (Editor's note: I am hoping this story will help prevent future scams of this type. Toward that end, I am making it available to the public as well as my savvy subscribers, who are always up to
2 min read
Oct
26

Salary Transparency Class Actions Arrive

1 min read
Oct
24

Staffing Firm Sued for Dodging Overtime by Paying Employees as Independent Contractors

1 min read
Oct
23

Reminder: New I-9 Form Required Starting November 1

Remote document verification authorized if you use e-verify Effective November 1, 2023, employers must use the updated I-9 form that was issued by USCIS in August. You can access the new form here: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9 As previously reported, the COVID-era rule allowing remote document verification has expired.
1 min read
Oct
18

Data Breach at Staffing Firm Leads to Five Class Actions

1 min read
Oct
17

Another Week, Another Client-Induced Disability Claim

2 min read
Oct
12

Staffing Giant Allegis Takes a Hit in Restrictive Covenant Lawsuit

Federal court invalidates non-solicitation and non-disclosure contract provisions in proxy war with Jobot I have litigated or managed as in-house counsel over 100 noncompete/trade secret lawsuits involving staffing firms, and the area is of particular interest to me. Last year, I reported on a legal battle being waged by
8 min read
Sep
26

EEOC and Department of Labor Team Up in Seach for Violators

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division have entered into a historic agreement to combine forces in the search for employers who violate the law in their respective enforcement areas. The agreement, called a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU"), recites
1 min read
Sep
26

Criminal Background Checks in California - Special Rules Apply

New regulations expand scope of the law and provide compliance guidance
2 min read
Sep
22

EEOC Sues Staffing Firm and Client Over Alleged Preference for Hispanic Workers

Conciliation Process Fails - Why This Matters The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued Memphis agency Supreme Staffing, LLC and its client Aaron Thomas Company, Inc. a manufacturer, contract packager and warehouse operator. The lawsuit (copy attached below) filed in Federal Court alleges that the client asked Supreme Staffing to
2 min read
Sep
19

California Legislature Gives Employers More Reasons to Avoid the State

3 min read
Sep
12

DOL's Proposal to Increase Salaries for Overtime Exemption May Backfire on the Agency

But antiquated wage/hour laws will remain a big problem for employers The U.S. Department of Labor is in the early stages of proposing a major increase to the minimum salary required for eligibility for the "white collar" overtime exemptions found in the Fair Labor Standards Act
2 min read
Sep
08

Las Vegas Staffing Executive Indicted for Lying to Buyer of his Agency About Price Fixing Investigation

1 min read
Sep
05

National Staffing Solutions Sues Former Employee Under Computer Fraud Statute

Lawsuit alleges former nurse recruiter stole candidate database after loading computer sharing software National Staffing Solutions has filed an unusual data theft lawsuit in Florida (Complaint attached). While data theft cases are not uncommon, it is rare to see one that seems to fit the requirements for relief under the
2 min read
Sep
01

Regulatory Updates for Staffing-September 2023

This year has brought an unprecedented wave of regulatory changes for U.S. employers. The changes derive from a combination of legislative and judicial actions. As a practical matter, it is impossible for the typical small to medium sized company to keep up with all of it. At Staffing Legal
5 min read
Aug
31

Lawsuit Raises the Question of a Recruiter's Legal Duty to the Candidate

Recruiting lawyers can be lucrative, as demonstrated in my coverage of a Texas noncompete case last year. There, a legal recruiter's former employer won a $3,640,132.60 damage award against the recruiter for misappropriating trade secrets and violating his non-competition agreement. The story included a list
4 min read
Aug
29

Liability for Client's Unlawful Discrimination: Reduce Your Risk

Elwood Staffing case provides guidance on avoiding liability for client misconduct Staffing firms are routinely dragged into employment litigation because of discriminatory conduct by a client. When a temporary worker asserts a discrimination claim based upon client conduct, it is standard practice for the plaintiff's lawyers to include
3 min read
Aug
21

BIOPOINT VS CATAPULT SOLUTIONS: $2,503,457 IN ATTORNEYS' FEES ADDED TO $5,061,444 DAMAGE AWARD

The US District Court for Massachusetts has added $2,503,457 in attorneys' fees to the massive damage award that I wrote about last week. The Final Judgement against Catapult Solutions and its Managing Director Andrew Dickhaut, including fees and court costs, totals $7,589,191.27.
1 min read
Aug
16

BIOPOINT VS CATAPULT SOLUTIONS GROUP: NONCOMPETE CASE OF THE YEAR

Inside job yields a $5,061,444 damage award - ruling pending on $2,503,457 attorneys' fee claim I see a big one like this every couple of years. The largest damage awards in unfair competition cases usually involve some form of trade secret misappropriation, and this one
3 min read
Aug
11

EEOC's "Artificial Intelligence" Settlement - Not Really an AI Case

But a Maryland technology attorney says she has a real one against a prominent legal search firm   It's no secret that the EEOC is ramping up its scrutiny of the use artificial intelligence in the employment context. The Agency in 2021 announced an initiative to: examine more closely
3 min read
Aug
09

Clueless Client Gets Staffing Agency Sued

“We don’t pay overtime here.” In the staffing business, the agency has all the responsibilities of an employer, but often only minimal connection with what is happening to its workers on assignment. A Fair Labor Standards Act case in Georgia against Simplified Staffing Solutions, Inc. and its client, Wanzer
1 min read
Aug
07

Lawsuit Demonstrates the Perils of Using IC's in California -

Independent Contractor decides he is an employee after fee dispute arises In theory, California's infamous ABC test can be met if your independent technology consultant: A. controls his own work. B. performs work outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business, such as a one-time
4 min read
Aug
02

Florida Staffing Agency Operators Sentenced to Prison for Immigration and Tax Fraud

The United States Justice Department continues to keep the staffing industry in its sights. On July 31, 2003, the Department issued the following press release: The operators of several Key West, Florida, labor staffing companies, including PSEB Services JD, Inc., Paradise Hospitality Solutions LLC, Paradise Hospitality Group LLC, Paradise Hospitality
1 min read
Jul
30

Illinois Set to Join New Jersey in the War on Staffing

Manufacturers ask Governor to veto House Bill (HB) 2862 before August 15 effective date Pending amendments to the Illinois Day and Temporary Labor Services Act are predicted to have dire consequences for industrial staffing agencies serving Illinois. Similar to the recently enacted New Jersey legislation that I wrote about last
3 min read
Jul
28

COURT RULES THAT NEW JERSEY CAN WIPE OUT INDUSTRIAL STAFFING IN THE STATE

Federal Court denies industry challenge Earlier this year I wrote a story entitled: "New Jersey Declares War on Industrial Staffing." Well, it looks like New Jersey just won the war. In what may be the most important legal ruling ever impacting the staffing industry, a Federal Court in
3 min read
Jul
27

Update on Massive Non-Compete Damage Award

Last year I wrote a story about a huge damage award in a staffing firm noncompete case. Specifically, on September 15, 2022, a Texas Federal Judge ruled that international legal search recruiter Evan P. Jowers is liable to his former employer for misappropriating trade secrets and violating his non-competition agreement.
2 min read
Jul
26

What's Worse Than a Wage-Hour Class Action?

Maryland staffing firm and its owner find out the hard way A class (or collective) action for overtime pay is certainly unpleasant for the employer, but a wage-hour investigation by the United States Department of Labor can be far worse for a non-compliant employer. This is because the Department of
3 min read
Jul
24

NEWS FLASH - USCIS TO ALLOW REMOTELY VERIFIED I-9's IF EMPLOYER USES E-VERIFY AND FOLLOWS PROCEDURES

REMOTE RE-VERIFICATION ALSO ALLOWED FOR COVID-ERA "CATCH UP" VERIFICATIONS IF THE EMPLOYER USED E-VERIFY AT THE TIME OF ORIGINAL REMOTE DOCUMENT VERIFICATION In my last post I alerted readers to the potential for USCIS to allow remote verification of I-9 documentation to continue after expiration of the COVID
1 min read
Jul
10

U.S. Department of Labor Takes on Questionable Independent Contracting Practices

The traditional risk of using independent contractors, a/k/a "1099's," is an audit by the IRS or state taxing authorities. In recent years, state auditors have been more aggressive than the IRS because of manpower limitations at the IRS. This may change in the future
3 min read
Jul
07

Recent Supreme Court Ruling Adds New Religious Accommodation Duty

Decision is a game-changer likely to encourage litigation I have often written about staffing firms that get caught in lawsuits because their client failed to "reasonably accommodate" a temporary worker's disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. I have not written about the duty to accommodate
3 min read
Jun
29

New York Set to Ban Noncompete Agreements; Illinois Set to Crush Industrial Staffing

Acts awaiting Governors' signatures signal ongoing anti-business sentiment in states that need business the most It is not official yet, but a bill is on its way to the desk of New York Governor Kathy Hochul that broadly bans noncompete agreements in the Empire State: "[e]very contract
1 min read
Jun
19

Staffing Firms Still Falling into Paradoxical I-9 Trap

Common sense might lead one to believe that carefully documenting a foreign national’s lawful work status is a good thing that government regulators would applaud. But common sense is not necessarily a good guide when it comes to navigating the regulatory maze.
3 min read
Jun
14

Another Staffing Firm Dragged into an ADA Lawsuit Because of Client's Actions

It seems that even some very large, and presumably sophisticated, clients of staffing firms do not understand that they have the same non-discrimination obligations to temp workers as they do to their direct employees.
3 min read
Jun
08

A Rare California Court Win for Staffing Employers

2 min read
Jun
07

Minnesota Bans Non-Competes, Part 2

Don't forget contracts of temporary workers and independent contractors (and employee handbooks) As I reported in my last post, Minnesota has banned non-compete agreements prospectively, effective July 1, 2023. This means that agreements signed on or after that date must not contain provisions that prevent employees and independent
2 min read
Jun
02

Minnesota Bans Non-Competes

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz just signed a law banning noncompete agreements in the state. Unlike restrictions in some other states, the ban is not limited in scope to certain wage groups or occupations. It is universal, the only exception applying to business owners when the business is sold.
1 min read
Jun
01

This Just in - It is Now Illegal to be an Employer in California

At least that is the witticism circulating among the labor and employment defense bar these days. And like any good joke, it has an element of truth. Approximately 50% of all court cases filed in the Golden State today are employment claims.
3 min read