Last weekend, I didn’t post because I was in D.C., where I had my first tour of the cherry blossoms. One of the most beloved trees at the Tidal Basin is this poor shrub of a tree affectionately known as Stumpy. Stumpy looks dead, but every March he (he?) sprouts a cheery hat of blooming cherry blossoms. But this bloom will be Stumpy’s last. Because of repeated flooding around the Tidal Basin, the sea wall is being raised, which will require the chopping down of 150 trees. While Stumpy is in for a rude surprise after the bloom, companies using independent contractors can plan in advance to avo ..read more

According to this NBC News story, the New Orleans police department headquarters is in such bad condition that not only are there rats everywhere, but the rats are eating the marijuana from the police evidence lockers. “They’re all high,” the police superintendent testified in a recent hearing. (Skip to 1:45 of the video. Showing great respect, she calls them “major rodents.”) Staffing firms and businesses in Illinois were saying “Rats!” when Illinois amended its temp staffing law in late 2023, but now they might be feeling a bit of a high. The 2023 amendment required staffing firms in Illino ..read more

No quips or musical references today. Just hard news, and here it is. If you do not already subscribe to BakerHostetler labor and employment alerts but would like to, drop me an email. https://www.bakerlaw.com/insights/court-vacates-new-nlrb-joint-employer-rule ..read more

Police in Wejherowo, Poland arrested a 19-year-old man for stealing a horse. The man was caught after neighbors reported that he was trying to lead a horse up the stairs to his third floor apartment. Why would someone do that? Apparently he was trying to conceal the horse and thought his apartment would make a good hiding place. (After all, who would look in a third-floor walk up for a missing horse?) But getting the horse to the apartment was the man’s undoing. He didn’t think through his plan. Don’t be like that man. Today’s post is to help you think through your plan in advance, but in the ..read more

I could think of a few songs called “Hold On” – Yes and Wilson Philips were the two that first came to mind. But I had no idea how popular a song name that was. According to Wikipedia, there are at least 17 albums called Hold On and 311 songs with that name. Who knew? “Hold on” is the theme of today’s post because that’s what a federal court in Texas decided to do with the NLRB joint employer rule. Judge H. Campbell Barker pushed back the effective date of the rule from Feb. 26 to March 11. But that doesn’t mean the rule will go into effect March 11. In the meantime, the judge is considering ..read more

Porcupine eating an apple.. pic.twitter.com/OESDW7LXuV — Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) February 12, 2024 Before reading this post, please enjoy this adorable video of a porcupine eating an apple. The porcupine seems harmless and cute, but remember – it’s still a porcupine. Those quills are sharp, and they can impale small would-be predators. And speaking of impale: A Congressional resolution, if passed, would impale the NLRB’s joint employer rule. The effort has enough support that it could bear fruit. Like the tasty apple in this video. On January 12, the House passed H.J. Res 98, which ..read more

The 1980s British band the Thompson Twins were not twins. They didn’t even look alike. Instead their name came from a comic strip called The Adventures of Tintin, which featured detectives named Thompson and Thompson, who were also not twins. I don’t know why the comic strip seemed like a good name for a band. I’ve always thought a good name for a band would be Cantaloupe. Not saying I’m right. My point is just that there’s a lot of room here for a difference of opinion on band names. The only reason I remember the Thompson Twins is that in 1983, they released a song called “Hold Me Now.” (I ..read more

1982 was a great year for music. Not only did it give us “867-5309 (Jenny)” by Tommy Tutone and “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell, but if you look a little harder, you’ll also notice that several releases that year contained important hidden messages about joint employment. On one hand, you had the opposers, like “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do),” in which Hall & Oates were staying away from every action that could lead to a finding of joint employment. Wanna hear a little known fact I just made up? Here were the original opening lines from the song: Easy, ready, willing, overtime Where does it ..read more

The 1982 release by the Clash asked, “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” The song included backing vocals in Spanish, but since none of the band members spoke Spanish, they had tape operator, Eddie, call his mother, who was Ecuadorian. Eddies’ mom translated the backing vocals into what we hear on the recording (Yo me enfrio o lo soplo). The Supreme Court agreed last month to address the same question — should I stay or should I go? — but in a different context. The case involves independent contractors who sued, alleging misclassification, the contractors had signed individual arbitration agreem ..read more

“Faces” is a useful word. It can mean the front part of the head, as in this selfie featuring two hairy-faced beasts. The one on the left has a wet drippy beard after sloppily drinking water from a bowl. No, I meant on your left. It can mean the English rock band formed in 1969, which featured Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood. Their 1971 album, A Nod Is As Good As a Wink… to a Blind Horse, reached #2 in the UK charts. Or it can be a verb, as in “DOL Independent Contractor Test Faces Court Challenges.” In today’s post, we’re going with verb. As expected, the independent contractor rule released by ..read more