Is an Uber driver an employee of Uber? Most scholarship about the so-called on-demand or gig economy has focused on whether individuals providing services via platforms, such as Uber, Lyft, Task Rabbit, and Instacart, are employees under current law or should be protected to the same degree as employees are protected under current law.
Category Archive: Labor & Employment Law
by Charles B. Daugherty
Easter & Cavosie
10455 N. College Ave.
Indianapolis, IN 46280
(317) 574-0828
cdaugherty@easterandcavosie.com
http://www.easterandcavosie.com/charles-b-daugherty
For centuries, public entities have employed competitive bidding to form construction contracts for public projects. Public entities often prefer competitive sealed bidding because it promotes both the lowest and best price, and fair and open competition among all citizens. Indeed, the Indiana General Assembly enacted Indiana’s competitive bidding statute “to safeguard the public against fraud, favoritism, graft, extravagance, improvidence and corruption, and to insure honest competition for the best work or supplies at the lowest reasonable cost.” [1] That said, the competitive bidding system has faults. Owners sometimes use pre-bid arrangements and procedures to address perceived flaws in the competitive bidding process. Labor issues have been the subject of such pre-bid arrangements and procedures.
by Kristopher N. Kazmierczak
Katz Korin P.C.
334 N. Senate Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
317-464-1100
kkaz@katzkorin.com
http://www.katzkorin.com/katz-korin-news/
http://www.katzkorin.com/kristopher-n-kazmierczak/biography/
https://www.facebook.com/KatzKorinPC
https://twitter.com/KatzKorin
As of July 1, 2015, Indiana employers are no longer automatically liable for paying liquidated damages as a penalty for overdue wages under Indiana law. [1] Indiana law previously mandated that an employer must pay a maximum of double the amount of unpaid wages as a penalty for unlawfully withheld wages, without exception. [2] Before the revision, courts had no discretion to deny an award of liquidated damages in connection with meritorious wage claims. [3]
A monumental shift in Indiana’s wage statute took effect on July 1, 2015 when, for the first time in over a century, the Indiana General Assembly authorized courts to use their discretion when considering an award of liquidated damages for overdue wages. [4] Following the change in the law, an award of liquidated damages can only be imposed after the court is convinced that the employer was not acting in “good faith” when it failed to timely pay wages. [5] Although this significant change was presumably intended to avoid unfair results for honest mistakes by employers, it will likely cause more uncertainty and indecision for employers, employees, and the courts when assessing potential liability for liquidated damages. Additionally, the change will likely lead to more uncertainty over responsibility for liquidated damages and litigation over past due wages.
by Fran Quigley
Clinical Professor of Law (Faculty Profile)
Health and Human Rights Clinic
Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
Lawrence W. Inlow Hall, Room 111N
530 W. New York Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3225
Proposals to raise the U.S. minimum wage have attracted a great deal of attention in the last several years. At the federal level, President Obama and many members of Congress have expressed support, via the Fair Minimum Wage Act, for an increase in the U.S. minimum wage. [1]. The legislation calls for an increase to $10.10 per hour for most workers, compared to the current minimum of $7.25 per hour. [2]. The bill also would increase the bottom level of pay for tipped workers from $2.13 per hour to 70% of the hourly worker minimum, and index both hourly and tipped worker wage levels for inflation. [3].
The federal bill has not passed, but twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have all raised their minimum wage above the federal level. [4]. At least 140 individual communities have passed living wage ordinances, which raise salaries above the federal or state minimums. [5]. Bills proposing an increase in Indiana’s minimum wage, currently set to mirror the federal level, [6] failed to get a hearing in the 2015 session of the Indiana General Assembly. [7].
The minimum wage debate has often been characterized by misstatements of facts and forecasts that are not supported by evidence. In an effort to separate the myths from the reality, here are four arguments for raising the minimum wage:
Hannah Kaufman Joseph (Attorney Profile)
Marc A. Menkveld (Attorney Profile)
Katz & Korin, P.C.
334 N. Senate Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46204
More info on the firm’s Blog, Facebook, and Twitter
On November 14, 2014, the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld a $1.44 million jury verdict against Walgreen Company (“Walgreen”) for a pharmacist’s breach of privacy obligations. [1]. The opinion began, “[i]n this case, a pharmacist breached one of her most sacred duties by viewing the prescription records of a customer and divulging the information she learned from those records to the client’s ex-boyfriend.” [2]. That brief summary of the case’s fact pattern provides the foundation of what ultimately led to a large jury verdict against Walgreen, derived solely from the acts of its employee.
