A Walmart sign is pictured at one of their stores in Mexico City, Mexico March 28, 2019. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido
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(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday said it was reasonable for Walmart Inc to believe that a photo model was an independent contractor and not the company's employee under California law, and threw out wage claims against the retail giant.
A unanimous three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was not clear whether plaintiff Bijon Hill was actually Walmart's employee, and that uncertainty gave the company a good-faith excuse to pay her as a contractor.
The panel affirmed the dismissal of Hill's lawsuit claiming she was not paid in a timely manner for 10 photo shoots in 2016 and 2017. Hill had sought $540,000 in damages. Hill was hired by Walmart through an agency to model clothing for marketing purposes.
"The limited and irregular nature of her work made it reasonable for Walmart to believe that Hill was not an employee, and, as a result, that she was not entitled to immediate payment at the conclusion of each photo shoot," Circuit Judge Milan Smith wrote for the court.
Arkansas-based Walmart, which is represented by Ford Harrison, did not immediately respond to a...
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