The Labor Department proposed a new regulation April 1 to limit shared wage and hour liability for companies in franchise and staffing arrangements.

In a case closely watched by the trucking industry, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the Federal Arbitration Act exemption for interstate transportation workers applies to independent contractors. Section 1 of the FAA exempts from arbitration "contracts of employment of seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce."

Restaurant servers and bartenders at International House of Pancakes, Denny’s, and P.F. Chang’s China Bistro restaurants who say their employers underpaid them had their case revived by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Sept. 18.