Key Issue
Whether the California Supreme Court's decision in
Dynamex Ops. W. Inc. v. Superior Court,1 which
set standards for differentiating employees from independent
contractors, applies retroactively.
Background
In 2008, plaintiffs from a number of states filed a proposed
class action in the District Court for the District of
Massachusetts alleging that Jan-Pro Franchising International
developed a three-tier franchising model to avoid paying its
janitors minimum wages and overtime compensation by misclassifying
them as independent contractors. The claims of the California
plaintiffs were eventually severed and sent to the District Court
for the Northern District of California, which granted summary
judgment in favor of Jan-Pro in May 2017.2 While this
case was proceeding, in a separate test case, affirmed on other
grounds on appeal, the Massachusetts court ruled in favor of
Jan-Pro.3
