EMSI and LapCorp Sued Over Purported CA Labor Law Violations

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Examination Management Services, Inc. (EMSI) and Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp) are on the receiving end of a proposed class action lawsuit filed by a phlebotomist who claims the defendants misclassified her as an independent contractor and denied her rights under California state law. The plaintiff alleges that the defendants maintained control over most aspects of her job, including compensation rates, schedules, time off, work sites, dress code, method of timekeeping, work tools, customers, and various regulations that restricted how she was to perform her duties. According to the suit, this control over the plaintiff indicates that she was the defendants’ employee rather than an independent contractor. Consequently, she should have been entitled to the rights and benefits of employees, such as paid time off, vacation time, and the payment of insurance premiums, the complaint argues.

Furthermore, the suit alleges that EMSI and LabCorp avoided government obligations typically associated with the hiring of employees. From the complaint:

“Defendants have avoided paying unemployment insurance taxes, workers’ compensation premiums, and the employer’s portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes. Defendants did not withhold federal or state taxes from Plaintiff’s and [the proposed class’] wages, and they did not pay the employer’s share of The Federal Insurance Contributions Act (‘FICA’) taxes.”

On top of that, the plaintiff says EMSI and LabCorp required workers to arrive 10 minutes prior to their scheduled shifts, but failed to compensate them for that time, in violation of state law. She further claims that phlebotomists who resigned were never paid some of the wages that were owed to them. The suit seeks monetary relief, including purportedly unpaid wages, and injunctive relief to discontinue the defendants’ “unlawful and unfair conduct.”