United States: District Judge Allows Rail Union To Side Step Rule 23 With Pattern-Or-Practice Claim

A federal district judge in Hammond, Indiana, has permitted a rail union to pursue injunctive remedies in a Title VII pattern-or-practice discrimination claim on behalf of its black members without compliance with Rule 23.  In Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees v. Ind. Harbor Belt R.R. Co., (Case No. 2:13-cv-00018, 2014 WL 4987972,October 7, 2014), Chief Judge Philip P. Simon, in ruling on a motion for reconsideration, again rejected the argument that outside the […]

By | October 17th, 2014 ||

Canada: An Employer Can File A Counterclaim Against An Employee In An Action Brought By The Labour Standards Commission On The Employee’s Behalf

In the matter of Commission des normes du travail v. Compagnie d’assurances Standard Life du Canada1, the Court of Québec had to decide whether an employer could file a counterclaim against an employee in proceedings in which Quebec’s Labour Standards Commission2 (the “Commission”) was suing the employer on behalf of the employee. It should be noted that the majority of the Court’ of Québec’s previous decisions were to the effect that it could not, […]

By | October 16th, 2014 ||

United States: NLRB Adopts New Test For Independent Contractor Misclassification, Applies It To Find FedEx Drivers Are Employees Who Can Unionize

The NLRB has tossed a new vegetable into the enormous salad of independent contractor misclassification tests. As companies might expect, the new vegetable smells rotten.

Companies who wish to analyze whether their non-employee workers are properly classified as independent contractors must now contend with a new NLRB test, in addition to the IRS Right to Control Test (used for federal tax purposes), common law Right to Control Test (used for ERISA and federal discrimination law […]

By | October 16th, 2014 ||