Benjamin M. Ebbink

Ebbink’s work as a labor and employment attorney takes him outside the four walls of Fisher Phillips and into the fray of Sacramento politics as a registered lobbyist.

Recently, bills taking aim at sexual harassment have seen Ebbink advising clients on how best to comply in the era of the #MeToo movement.

“Many of them are actually much broader than just sexual harassment,” Ebbink said of the pending state legislation.

One bill “would prohibit mandatory arbitration of any fair employment and housing act claim not just sexual harassment,” Ebbink said, noting it was crucial for employers to know the potential risks and liabilities they faced beyond the harassment context if certain bills passed.

A decision in the Dynamex case in the California Supreme Court earlier this year has also redrawn the boundaries of the employer-employee relationship and caused many companies to reassess who is considered an employee, Ebbink said.

“That has really fallen like a bombshell in the employer community,” he added. The decision established a new test for determining who is an employee versus an independent contractor, Ebbink said.

“Many employers who currently use independent contractors are reviewing their procedures and how they classify people in light of this new decision and wondering how far it’s going to be extended,” he added.

“A lot of folks are waiting to see whether the courts or the enforcement entities are going to extend this test to other areas of law like labor code claims, worker compensation and unemployment insurance.” Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, 2018 DJDAR 3856 (April 30, 2018).

— Chase DiFeliciantonio