Senate Bill 179, which became effective January 1, 2004 as Labor Code Section 2810, substitutes a new doctrine of vicarious liability for the long-established separation between principal and independent contractor.  It does so by making it unlawful for a person or entity to enter into an agreement for labor services with a construction, farm labor, garment, janitorial or security guard contractor, where the person or entity knows or should know that the agreement does not include funds sufficient to enable the contractor to comply with all applicable local, state and federal laws or regulations governing the labor or services to be provided.  Proponents of the law may have been targeting certain well-known labor abuses, but the broad scope of the law, and its vague language, will raise issues for many "persons and entities" in California.

Chicago-based Cragin Bank for Savings retained loan originators to obtain mortgage loan business. Each loan origina.

Although no labor or employment legislation has yet been enacted into law, the Montana Legislature is considering several bills of interest to employers.

This article summarizes the Ninth Circuit's decision in Vizcaino v. United States District Court (Microsoft Corporation) whereby the Court held that contingent workers (independent contractors and temporary agency employees) are entitled to retroactive stock purchase rights.

This update discusses the appeals of the case of Vizcaino v. Microsoft Corporation.

This article discusses the potential effect of Vizcaino v. Microsoft on classification of independent contractors.

The United States Supreme Court refused to review the controversial Ninth Circuit decision that held that Microsoft improperly denied benefits to workers originally hired as independent contractors and later reclassified as employees.

This article outlines when a worker is considered an independent contractor under California law. Employers often misclassify workers as independent contractors when they really should be classified as employees and this gives rise to serious consequences to the employer.

Our firm has developed a model provision designed to exclude contingent workers from benefit plans and other compe.

Completing a process that began in June 2002, the SEC is expected to approve the New York Stock Exchange’s new corporate governance listing standards. This Advisory discusses the proposed standards as published by the NYSE on October 9, 2003. In most cases, listed companies must comply with the new standards in time for their 2004 annual meeting.

This article details how employers are discovering that workers they once believed were independent contractors are instead viewed by courts as regular employees.

Common law rules define employer-employee relationship—a worker is an employee under the common law rules if the person for whom he works has the right to direct and control his work both as to the final results and as to the details of when, where and how the work is to be done, regardless of whether control is actually exercised

The IRS in looking at the status of a worker for a corporation looks at the employer's "right to control" that .

This article reviews the factors that are taken into account when determining if a worker is considered an employee or an independent contractor.

On October 9, 2003, The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. filed an amendment to its proposed listing standards concerning director independence and other corporate governance matters with the SEC. As a general rule, listed companies will need to be in compliance with the new rules prior to their 2004 annual shareholders meeting. Although widely expected to be in final form at this time, the proposals must be approved by the SEC before becoming final, and the SEC could require further revisions.

Companies today often designate a portion of their workforce as "freelancers", as part of their efforts to create a flexible workforce and reduce costs. In fact, however, the word "freelancer" has no legal meaning, and even its "ordinary" meaning is up for debate.

Businesses representing virtually every sector of the South Carolina economy "from textiles to technology" are tu.

This article discusses a new January 1998 statute that affects accounting for individual or executive compensation.

This article summarizes the implications of the Microsoft III case and how to avoid misclassifying an employee as an independent contractor.

This article details the potential effects of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in the Microsoft "temp" case.

Most companies structure employee benefit plans to provide benefits to employees of the company other than those w.

This report discusses a recent court ruling that holds that companies must provide benefit services to independent contractors.

More changes to overtime laws. In case you haven't noticed, the laws relating to overtime pay are complicated and .

In recent years employers have substantially increased utilization of independent contractors and temporary (or .

Employers may face serious financial exposure when an individual the employer classified as an independent contract.

Employee versus independent contractor status is not only an issue with respect to classification for IRS purposes, but with respect to classification under other laws as well.