On February 8, 2023, A Place for Rover, Inc. (“Rover” or the “Company”) agreed to pay $18 million to resolve allegations that the Company unlawfully misclassified its hourly workers as independent contractors in order to skirt certain minimum wage and benefit laws. Rover is an app-based platform where users can connect with and book dog sitters or walkers. The Rover app includes dog boarding, dog walking, house sitting and doggy…
On January 31, 2023, the Honorable Edmund A. Sargus, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio granted final approval of a $2.75 million settlement (“Settlement”) in a class action lawsuit against L Brands, Inc. (“L Brands”), the former parent company of Victoria’s Secret, as well as L Brand Service Company LLC and the Retirement Plan Committee of the L Brands, Inc. 401(k) Savings and…
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) unveiled a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) that would ban virtually all employment-related non-compete agreements (“NCAs”) on the ground that such agreements are an “unfair method of competition,” thereby violating Section 5 of the FTC Act. Non-compete agreements are clauses in employment contracts that prohibit employees from working for competing companies for a defined period following the employee’s departure from the contracting…
On December 7, 2022, United States District Judge Janet C. Hall of the District of Connecticut partially denied the Motion to Strike Plaintiffs’ Jury Demand (“Motion”) filed by New England energy provider Eversource Energy Company (“Eversource”), the Board of Directors of Eversource Energy Company (“Board”), the Eversource Plan Administrative Committee (“Administrative Committee”), the Eversource Investment Management Committee (“Investment Committee,” and, with the Administrative Committee, “Committees”), and named members of the…
On December 23, 2022, the Honorable Colleen McMahon, a District Judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, largely denied the motion for summary judgment (“Motion”) filed by Omnicom Group, Inc. (“Omnicom”), the Administrative Committee of the Omnicom Group Retirement Savings Plan (“Committee”), the Board of Directors of Omnicom Group, Inc. (“Board”) and individual members of the Board and Committee (collectively, “Defendants”). The Court…
Meta Platforms, Inc. has agreed to pay $725 million to current and former Facebook users for the platform’s alleged violation of the Stored Communications Act and the Video Privacy Protection Act, as well as to settle claims for negligence, invasion of privacy, and breach of contract. Specifically, Plaintiffs allege that Facebook’s data-sharing practices were flawed because Facebook granted numerous third parties access to Facebook users’ content and information without their…
On November 4, 2022, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that for the purposes of the Fair Labor Stands Act (“FLSA”), Los Angeles County (the “County”) qualifies as a joint employer of In-Home Supportive Services (“IHSS”) providers and is therefore liable for failing to pay overtime compensation, partially reversing the Central District of California’s summary judgment order in favor of the…
On November 3, 2022, Emmanuel Cornet, Justine De Caires, Grae Kindel, Alexis Camacho, and Jessica Pan (collectively, “Plaintiffs”), individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed a Class Action Complaint against Defendant Twitter, Inc. (“Twitter”), in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Plaintiffs, all of whom are former employees of Twitter, allege that the company violated and will further violate the federal Worker…
On October 31, 2022, United States District Judge Mark Kearney of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania approved a $12.5 million settlement of class action claims alleging that Universal Health Services, Inc. (“Universal” or the “Company”) mismanaged its defined contribution retirement plan (the “Plan”). Plaintiffs, former Universal employees Mary Boley, Kandie Sutter, and Phyllis Johnson (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) specifically alleged that the Company mismanaged the Plan by incorporating excessive fees and risky,…
On August 3, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed a Wisconsin federal court’s dismissal of a truck driver’s misclassification claims against hauling company Schneider National Inc. (“Schneider” or “the Company”). The Seventh Circuit found that driver Eric Brant (“Plaintiff”) plausibly alleged a viable claim under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), a federal law that protects workers from unfair employment practices by establishing requirements…