From JDSupra, Richard Reibstein reports that a California dog walking and pet care provider setttled a class action lawsuit alleging the dog walkers and pet care providers were misclassified as independent contractors. Richard writes:
PET CARE AND DOG WALKING PLATFORM SETTLES WITH PET CARE PROVIDERS FOR $18 MILLION IN IC MISCLASSIFICATION CLASS ACTION. Despite prevailing on summary judgment before a federal district court in an independent contractor misclassification lawsuit in California, a pet care provider and dog walking services online platform called A Place for Rover has settled the proposed class action lawsuit for $18 million. The settlement would resolve claims brought under the California wage and hour laws and the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) covering nearly 104,000 pet care providers. The plaintiff alleged that the company misclassified the providers, who use the company’s online platform to book their services, by categorizing them as independent contractors instead of hourly employees. As a result, the dog walkers claimed that the company failed to pay at least the minimum wage, provide workers’ compensation and paid sick days, pay all wages due at the time of separation, and issue regular wage statements as required by the California Labor Code. Under the terms of the proposed settlement, $2.4 million will be dedicated to settle the PAGA claims; nearly $6 million will be paid to the plaintiffs’ attorneys; $100,000 will be allocated for litigation costs and a class representative award; and the balance will be paid to members of the pet care provider class.
