Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary, P.C.

The Supreme Court ordered a stay of OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). The Court held that Congress had not given OSHA authority to issue such a sweeping regulation addressing a public health concern that was not an occupation-specific risk. 

This week, an Illinois Appellate Court issued a ruling with the potential to dramatically increase liability under Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), which could lead to many more class action lawsuits against transportation companies operating in Illinois.

New guidance from the IRS makes clear that motor carriers with drivers subject to hours of service requirements can temporarily deduct the meal portion of per diem expense reimbursements at 100% instead of 80%.

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation held a lottery which determined that the multiple challenges to OSHA's ETS on COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing would be consolidated and heard in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
 

The Supreme Court invited the Solicitor General to file a brief expressing the federal government’s views on whether the Supreme Court should hear California Trucking Association’s suit claiming federal law preempts California’s AB 5, which imposes a restrictive ABC test to determine worker classification.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a temporary stay of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on Vaccines and Testing, which applies to employers with more than 100 employees.

President Biden announced an action plan which called for OSHA to draft and issue ETS designed to reduce Covid-19 infection numbers. Specifically, the President has called for private employers with at least 100 employees to ensure either that (1) all employees are vaccinated; or (2) all employees are tested at least weekly.

The IRS released Notice 2021-52 announcing the new Special Per Diem Rates for 2021-2022. Read more about rate increases, when the new rates take effect, and how to access the notice.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted California Trucking Association’s request for a stay of the mandate in order to allow CTA to petition the Supreme Court for review of the Ninth Circuit’s holding in CTA v. Bonta that the restrictive ABC test in AB-5 is not preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has denied the California Trucking Association’s (CTA) request for an en banc review of the Ninth Circuit’s April 28 decision that found the CTA was unlikely to succeed on its claim that the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (F4A) preempts AB-5, the California legislature’s imposition of a restrictive ABC test.  

The Senate Commerce Committee passed on a bipartisan basis its contribution to a surface transportation reauthorization bill that includes a threat to lease-purchase agreements in the trucking industry.

On April 28, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that California Trucking Association (CTA) was unlikely to succeed on the merits with respect to its claim that AB-5, the California legislature’s imposition of a restrictive ABC test, is preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (F4A). What is the future of AB-5 and how will it affect the transportation industry?

The DOL’s Model Notices of the type required under the ARPA’s new COBRA Premium Subsidy Program have now been issued. Read more about the program and where to find the Model Notices.

Since the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) was enacted on March 11, 2021, there has been much discussion about various provisions of the sweeping Act, focusing primarily on a new round of stimulus checks, expansion of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan program and extension of the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), among others. One provision that has not received as much attention is the ARPA COBRA Premium Subsidy Program, and employers that sponsor group health plans subject to COBRA are reminded that this program takes effect April 1, 2021.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) withdrew an Opinion Letter issued in 2019 deeming gig economy workers engaging through a virtual marketplace platform to be independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act’s economic realities test (FLSA-2019-6).

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit delivered good news for the trucking industry today, upholding the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s determination that California’s meal and rest break rules are preempted under 49 U.S.C. § 31141.

The Department of Labor published the text of its final rule establishing the test for independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The text remained largely unchanged from the initial language released in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published last September. The final rule is an economic realities test with a two-tier analysis.

 

Both the House and the Senate approved a massive legislative package comprised of a $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill, annual government funding for the remainder of the fiscal year, and a host of miscellaneous provisions.

The California Court of Appeal reversed the trial court decision in People v. Cal Cartage Transportation Express, LLC, holding that the ABC test first expressed in Dynamex and later codified in AB5 is not preempted by federal law.

Prop 22 put the issue of the independent contractor status of gig economy drivers before California voters – these voters overwhelmingly voted yes to Proposition 22 on election day according to Associated Press reports. Scopelitis on how this translates to the transportation industry.