Employee Misclassification Lawsuit Against Arise Virtual Solutions®

Worker misclassification is a form of payroll fraud where an employer will deprive their employee's minimum wage, overtime pay, and paid sick leave by classifying them as "independent contractors," who are typically not entitled to the same benefits as a normal company employee. 

In the United States, every state may have its own regulations on minimum wage, but under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers are required to pay any workers they employ at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Employers must also abide by current overtime rules, which currently state that employers are required to pay their employees "time-and-a-half" wages or 1.5 times the employee's regular hourly wage for all of the hours worked over the national overtime limit of 40 hours per week.

Currently, there are no federal law requirements for paid sick leave; Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Washington, D.C. have mandatory paid sick leave laws.

Over the years, Arise® has systemically misclassified its employees as independent contractors. In doing so, they've denied them their rights to minimum wage, overtime pay, and paid sick leave. The lawsuits filed against Arise® seek to have these "agents" recognized as legal employees because Arise® has the ability to both hire and fire them, as well as determine their pay rate. The company has also required its agents to meet with managers and supervisors and has sought to control their agents with a digital surveillance technology that tracks their performance second by second.

Arise® has also used numerous methods to unlawfully cut their agent's wages by making them work for hourly rates that are blatantly below minimum wage. Along with cutting their pay, Arise® has also shortened their agents’ wages by requiring them to pay for training and certification fees. The company also requires that the agents purchase their own work equipment, allegedly forcing them to work unpaid hours through meetings with supervisors, and often docks their pay based on performance.

The lawsuit alleges that Arise® violated FLSA and FMLA through the following:   

• Failure to pay the minimum wage: Arise® has failed to pay their agents the minimum wage for all hours worked in violation of the FLSA. The FLSA requires employers to pay employees a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Agents working at Arise® have continuously underpaid the legal requirements. 
• Failure to pay overtime: Arise® has failed to pay the overtime rates of at least 1.5 times the employee's normal rate to agents who worked over 40 hours per week in violation of the FLSA. 
• Failure to provide sick leave: Arise® has failed to provide agents with paid sick leave as required by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) as well as violating sick leave laws for those agents located in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Washington, D.C. 

Agents who have worked for Arise® may be eligible for financial compensation for the previous violations.