As the idea of “Hero Pay”, an hourly premium paid to front-line grocery and retail workers during the existence of a public emergency, gains traction around the country (hazard pay ordinances are in effect in Berkeley, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco and a host of other California cities as well as in Seattle),…
Read More »One of the provisions in the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan of 2021 prohibits states from using the federal relief cash either directly or indirectly to reduce taxes. In response, Ohio, Arizona, Missouri and a host of other – mostly red – states have filed suit against the Biden administration challenging the prohibition.…
Read More »A Boston-based federal district court judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed last May by the Massachusetts-based high-end seafood chain, Legal Sea Foods. US District Court Judge Nathaniel Gorton agreed with defendant Strathmore Insurance Company that the COVID-19 virus did not result in the requisite physical damage to Legal Sea Foods’ property, notwithstanding government ordered shutdowns…
Read More »There was some legal and legislative headway made this past week on the question of business interruption protections being applicable during the pandemic. First off, the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio ruled last week that a claim for insurance protection under business interruption coverage by a multi-state restaurant owner was valid…
Read More »This week, DDIFO joined the International Franchise Association (IFA), the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) and the Supercuts Franchisee Association in filing a federal lawsuit challenging California Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) law. Filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of California, the lawsuit contends that AB 5 is preempted by the…
Read More »A few weeks ago, we reported on McDonalds suing to recover severance and bonus payments paid to terminated CEO Steve Easterbrook. On the heels of that evolving storm, executives at McDonalds now have an additional matter to deal with – a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by 52 black former franchisees. In the suit, filed…
Read More »A half-dozen business advocacy groups got the judicial OK this week to intervene in defending the Department of Labor (DOL) joint employer definition and the regulatory test pertaining thereto. A federal judge sitting on the US District Court for the Southern District of New York granted the request of the US Chamber of Commerce, the…
Read More »A three judge panel of the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia yesterday threw out a lawsuit brought by the AFL-CIO seeking to mandate that employers be required to protect employees from the COVID-19 pandemic. The labor federation had filed legal action last month trying to force the Occupational Safety and…
Read More »A legal challenge against insurance providers for denying losses claimed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic welcomed another voice last week. In-N-Out Burger, the privately-held California-based burger company filed suit against Zurich American Insurance, with which the chain has a $250 million “all risk” policy. The company argues their coverage policy “contains no exclusion…
Read More »It’s hard to fathom that the joint employer question/issue, first created under the Obama administration with the NLRB Browning-Ferris decision back in 2015, is still unresolved all these years later. As we advised last week, the NLRB and the Department of Labor have both issued a “final rule” re-establishing the historical definition of joint employer.…
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