State Appellate Court Classifies Uber and Lyft Drivers as Employees

Uber-Lyft Drivers either Employee or Independent Contractor
Nov11

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri The rise of the gig economy has to new forms of work that face tremendous obstacles when it comes up against worker legislation like the NLRA. No job has become more symbolic of the gig economy than the rideshare services known as Uber and Lyft. There has long been a debate about whether Uber and Lyft drivers were either employees or independent contractors. Being the latter would exempt Uber and Lyft from giving their drives their necessary protections and benefits under the National Labor Relations Act and other

November 11, 2020
Read more

The Department of Labor’s New H-1B Wage Hike Rule Faces Overwhelming Legal and Empirical Challenges

H-1B Wage Hike implemented by Trump Administration
Oct30

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri The Trump administration caused an uproar among employers when it implemented its Interim Final Rule on October 8th, 2020 substantially increasing the amount in wages to be paid to employees who held H-1B visas in an attempt to pressure employers to drop them in favor of a domestic American workforce.[1]   In addition to boosting wages to pressure employers to look domestically for employees, it also changed the requirements for an H-1B visa by looking not simply for a college degree but specifically for degrees in “specialty occupations”

October 30, 2020
Read more

SEC vs CFTC: two different reporting systems that require the reporting of similar data.

SEC and CFTC Record Similar Data with Two Different Systems
Oct28

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri Over the past several years, experts have called for the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to harmonize their regulatory standards in order to minimize duplicative or contradictory regulatory reporting requirements.[1] Not doing so has led to market participants creating “two different reporting systems and/or processes – one for the CFTC and one for the SEC” despite both require the reporting of similar data.[2] The obstacles posed to cross-jurisdictional transparency in following the regulatory rules and the

October 28, 2020
Read more

Trump’s New Final Rule for the H-1B Visa and How It Helps Stifle Work-Based Immigration

Immigration Work-Based visa H-1b Changes Employment
Oct16

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri A recurring talking point from the Trump Administration has been that “illegal immigration” allegedly steal jobs from American workers.[1] He has consistently tried to link illegal immigration (however tenuously) to detrimental changes in the U.S. by pointing to the performance of the U.S. economy and the job market.[2] In the early days of his campaign, he was very clear that, in his view as well as that of his supporters, immigrants were “taking our jobs…our manufacturing jobs…[and] our money.”[3]   Since taking office in 2017,

October 16, 2020
Read more

EB-5 To The Rescue

EB-5 TO THE RESCUE by Taher Kameli
Oct09

Written by Taher Kameli America needs help, here comes EB5? The “EB-5 Program” refers to employment-based immigration under section 203(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (codified as 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)).  The EB-5 Program has been in existence since the 1980’s, and until recently, long-term stakeholders in the community thought that they had seen it all. But with the pandemic continuing to impact every sector of the U.S. and global economy, industry experts are now required to speculate as to how the EB-5 Program will be impacted.   Based on this introduction, one would expect the next couple paragraphs to

October 9, 2020
Read more

How The Department of Labor’s New Definition of “Independent Contractors” Can Wrongfully Exclude Workers From Federal Labor Protections

Independent Contractor Might Recieve New Proposed Definition
Oct07

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri In what could be seen as a boon to employers, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposed regulation setting out a new definition of who was or was not an “independent contractor.”[1] This regulation, if approved and finalized, would make it easier for employers to classify much of their workforce as “independent contractors” and be excused from providing them labor protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act.[2] On the other hand, however, it may affect the security of workers as they could lose considerable protections and benefits

October 7, 2020
Read more

Challenge to Employer-Friendly Joint-Employer Final Rule

Challenge to Employer-Friendly Joint-Employer Final Rule
Sep22

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri The Department of Labor (“DOL”) under the Trump Administration granted what was seen as an administrative boon to employers when it issued its Final Rule on joint-employer status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in January of this year.[1] And yet since its passage, it has caused nothing but controversy as to the hurdles it causes for workers in terms of holding employers accountable for violation of their rights under existing labor laws.[2]   As part of the FLSA, employees can hold two or more employers jointly and severally

September 22, 2020
Read more
Request Consultation