Sc Amway Sued Again "Gig Economy" California Law
Bloomberg - Are you a robot?
Quote:
Amway Corp. has long faced controversy over its multi-level marketing business model. Now, the family-owned direct sales giant is accused in a lawsuit of ripping off the people who peddle its products by failing to pay them minimum wage....
Amway relies on what it calls “independent business owners,” who pay fees and buy its merchandise to sell to others, historically friends and neighbors. “Outside salespersons” are not typically treated as employees under California law, but William Orage claims in a suit filed Friday in state court in Oakland that his “principal task” at Amway was not sales, but the recruitment of new IBOs to pay Amway more fees and buy more products....
He filed his complaint under California’s Private Attorneys General Act, which also allows him to seek government penalties for thousands of Californians who’ve worked for the company. If successful, Orage and other affected workers will receive a share of the recoveries. He’s backed in the case by the legal non-profits Towards Justice and Justice Catalyst Law....
“Amway has been using the ‘gig economy’ business model of using massive numbers of revenue-producing workers that are classified as independent contractors,” Brian Shearer, an attorney for Orage, said in an interview. “And they’ve been doing it for sixty years.”
