This past month, the most notable lawsuit alleging independent contractor misclassification was an ERISA claim. ERISA lawsuits by workers alleging independent contractor misclassification can potentially expose companies to enormous liability. For example, in 2017 a federal district court entered a judgment following a jury trial involving ERISA claims by insurance agents seeking damages under several types of ERISA plans. That judgment reportedly would have imposed liability upon the insurance company defendant in the hundreds of millions of dollars, but it was reversed on appeal in January 2019 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The defendant argued that the agents were independent contractors and not employees, and the appellate court agreed. That approach is but one way to defend against ERISA lawsuits by workers classified as independent contractors. Another way is to argue that the workers, even if they are employees, were excluded from eligibility as participants in the ERISA plans. That was the thrust of a successful defense last month in an ERISA lawsuit brought by a worker classified as an independent contractor. The court held that even if the worker was a common law employee and not an independent contractor, he did not allege he was an eligible participant in the plans in question. This result teaches companies to buttress the language in their ERISA plans to exclude those they classify as independent contractors. As we note in our blog...
Quince is looking to sidestep a proposed class action lawsuit accusing it of “defraud[ing] customers as to the value of thousands of … products sold on its website.” In a newly filed motion to dis...