Articles by Daniel Wiessner and Jonathan Stempel

Employee Lawsuit Claims McDonald’s Fails to Address Sexual Harassment

Mc Donald’s Corp. was sued on Tuesday by workers in Michigan who accused the fast-food chain of allowing pervasive sexual harassment to flourish at its restaurants nationwide. The proposed class action lawsuit filed in a Michigan state court accused McDonald’s …

National Labor Board Memo Says Uber Drivers Are Contractors, Not Employees

Drivers for ride-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc. are independent contractors and not employees, the general counsel of a U.S. labor agency has concluded, in an advisory memo that is likely to carry significant weight in a pending case against the …

Feds Issue Proposal to Ease Franchisor Liability

By Daniel Wiessner The U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposal that would make it more difficult to prove companies are liable for the wage law violations of their contractors or franchisees, a top priority for business groups. If adopted, …

Labor Department Moves to Ease Franchisor Liability

The U.S. Department of Labor on Monday issued a proposal that would make it more difficult to prove companies are liable for the wage law violations of their contractors or franchisees, a top priority for business groups. If adopted, the …

Trump Administration Unveils Higher Threshold to Expand Overtime Pay

The U.S. Department of Labor issued a long-awaited proposal on Thursday to extend mandatory overtime pay to a million more workers, far fewer than an Obama administration rule that was struck down by a federal judge. Currently, salaried workers are …

Walmart Paying $65M to Settle California Suit Over Seating For Cashiers

Walmart Inc. has agreed to pay $65 million to nearly 100,000 current and former cashiers in California who accused the retailer of violating state law by refusing to provide them with seating while they worked. Walmart denied any wrongdoing in …

Trump’s Labor Board to Try Again to Ease Obama Franchise Liability Standard

The U.S. agency that enforces federal labor laws took the first steps on Thursday towards loosening an Obama-era standard that made it easier to hold companies liable for illegal labor practices by their contractors and franchisees. The five-member National Labor …

U.S. Labor Judge Nixes McDonald’s Deal to Avoid Joint Employer Tag

A judge with a U.S. labor agency on Tuesday rejected McDonald’s Corp.’s proposed settlement of a major case on whether the fast-food company is accountable for alleged labor law violations by franchisees across the country. The settlement proposed in March …

Wal-Mart Settles Transgender Employee’s Claim Over Firing

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Wednesday settled a lawsuit by a transgender former employee in North Carolina who accused the retail giant of unlawfully firing her for complaining about harassment. Arkansas-based Wal-Mart and the plaintiff, Charlene Bost, did not disclose the …

Court Revives Challenge to Seattle’s Ridesharing Union Law

A U.S. appeals court has revived a leading business group’s challenge to a Seattle law, the first of its kind, that would allow drivers for ride-hailing services such as Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft to unionize. The San Francisco-based 9th …