Minimum Wage

Listen to this article

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Melissa Callahan v. City of Chicago, Illinois

Case No.: 15-1318

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge, and BRUCE, District Judge.

Focus: Minimum Wage

Appellant argues that state should compensate her difference between her wage and standard for minimum wage.

“Callahan asks us to deem Chicago her employer under the seven open‐ended factors discussed in Secretary of Labor v. Lauritzen, 835 F.2d 1529 (7th Cir. 1987). A concurring opinion questioned the utility of that list, see 835 F.2d at 1539–43, but we need not decide whether to take a fresh look at the subject. Lauritzen designed its list to help courts choose be‐ tween characterizing migrant laborers as employees or as independent contractors. The agricultural laborers per‐ formed their tasks on Lauritzen’s cucumber farm. When one person compensates another for work done on his property, the statutory phrase “suffer or permit to work” implies the existence of an employment relation, even when the workers set their own schedules and choose their own harvesting techniques. Callahan may have driven on the City’s streets, but Chicago did not “suffer or permit” her to be there; the State of Illinois sets the requirements for drivers’ and chauffeurs’ licenses. Callahan’s suit does not require a choice be‐ tween employment and independent‐contractor status. The core question is whether extensive regulation makes the government an employer of the regulated parties. Our answer to that question is “no.””

Affirmed

Full Text

Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.