New Jersey Supreme Court Clarifies Independent Contractor Classification

The New Jersey Supreme Court’s recent decision in East Bay Drywall, LLC v. Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Docket No. A-7-21 (August 2, 2022), provides guidance as to the perils that may arise when businesses misclassify workers as independent contractors rather than employees. Under the state’s Unemployment Compensation Law (UCL), the “ABC Test” is used to determine whether certain workers are properly classified as employees or independent contractors. See N.J.S.A. 43:21-19(i)(6)(A)-(C). The court’s new decision is significant because it held that a contractors’ establishment of a separate corporate structure through which to render services may not suffice to establish independent contractor status under the ABC Test. READ MORE

New executive compensation disclosure requirement for the 2023 proxy season

The SEC has adopted final rules requiring that proxy statement disclosures reflect the relationship between the payment of executive compensation and a reporting company’s financial performance. The new disclosure applies to all SEC reporting companies, except foreign private issuers, registered investment companies and emerging growth companies, and will be required for fiscal years ending on or after December 16, 2022. Scaled disclosure requirements apply to smaller reporting companies. READ MORE

OFCCP Updates Guidance on Privilege Considerations for Compensation Analyses

On August 18, 2022, the US Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) made two significant announcements affecting federal contractors. First, the agency issued Directive 2022-01: Advancing Pay Equity Through Compensation Analysis, which replaces its original directive from March 2022 to clarify guidance regarding contractors’ compliance with compensation analysis obligations. READ MORE

Legal Complaint Around Student Athlete Compensation Takes ‘Aggressive’ Next Step

A new government entity is entering the growing movement to have athletes deemed as employees.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) could soon begin what one legal expert describes as an “aggressive investigation” into whether unpaid college athletes are being discriminated against because they are not fairly compensated. The EEOC was recently referred to an employment and civil rights complaint filed by the National College Players Association (NCPA) to the Department of Education in March. READ MORE

Amazon raises pay and enhances benefits for delivery drivers

Amazon is boosting pay and expanding benefits for the e-commerce giant's delivery drivers.

The company said Tuesday it will offer wage increases for drivers employed by its so-called delivery service partners (DSP), who ferry packages in the company's vans. U.S.-based DSP drivers also will be eligible to participate in a 401(k) plan, with Amazon pledging to chip in $60 million in the first year to help business owners match employee contributions.  READ MORE

SEC Adopts Pay Versus Performance Disclosure Requirements

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently adopted new pay versus performance disclosure requirements, which will require companies to disclose information reflecting the relationship between executive compensation actually paid by a company and the company’s financial performance. The new rules will require companies to provide a table and clear descriptions disclosing specified executive compensation and financial performance measures for their five most recently completed fiscal years, among other items. READ MORE

This inflation scourge has given average working folks a 3.4% wage cut over the past year

It's bad enough that President Joe Biden held a James Taylor celebratory concert yesterday after a terrible consumer inflation report with soaring prices for food and groceries, electricity, natural gas, cars, medical care—pretty much everything besides a drop in gasoline —with a near 1,300-point stock market selloff and 30-year mortgage rates jumping up to almost 7%, decimating the housing sector. READ MORE

Median U.S. income remained stagnant while supplemental poverty levels showed significant decrease last year, Census Bureau finds

Americans are still feeling the impacts of the pandemic economy as median household incomes have remained stagnant or declined for two years in a row, according to new government data.

"Real median household income was $70,784 in 2021," the Census Bureau said in its report on Income in the United States. "This estimate is not statistically different from the 2020 estimate of $71,186 and 2.8% lower than the 2019 median, the year before the most recent recession." READ MORE

New SEC pay versus performance rules to increase information reporting regarding executives: What you will need to include in your next proxy statement

The Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) recently adopted final rules to implement Section 14(i) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Act”), required by Section 953(a) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The new rules add Item 402(v) of Regulation S-K (“Item 402(v)”), which requires a public company to disclose the relationship between executive compensation and the company’s financial performance. READ MORE

SEC Adopts Pay Versus Performance Rule on Executive Compensation

In the years following the banking and financial crisis of 2008, there was a particular focus by the media and lawmakers on CEOs and other executives collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation. In response, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”) sought to “strengthen the transparency and quality of executive compensation disclosure to investors.” READ MORE

The Tricky Business of Classifying Independent Workers

Determining how to classify independent contractors versus employees might seem straightforward on the surface. But what appears to be a simple issue is quite complicated.   

The decisions as to how to classify workers and the companies that provide them with opportunities to work differs in each state and thus, suggesting rules which will apply federally is dangerous, as each state enforces the classification issue in theoretically different ways. READ MORE