A pre-litigation demand alleged misclassification of travel agents as independent contractors, asserting seventeen causes of action across wage-and-hour, expense reimbursement, and waiting time penalty theories. The threshold issue was choice of law: the agents worked remotely across multiple states, but the employer was headquartered in California. Under the ABC test (Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903), the classification was likely indefensible for California-based agents. But research identified a statutory exemption for licensed travel agents under Business & Professions Code § 17550 et seq. that, combined with the multi-state choice-of-law analysis under Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws § 188, narrowed the viable class to a subset of the workforce and eliminated several cause of action categories entirely. The pre-litigation analysis reduced the plaintiff's counsel's initial demand framework significantly before any formal discovery.
Misclassification
Travel Management Company
Independent contractor classification under ABC and Borello. Multi-state choice-of-law.
Exposure Narrowed
This matter description is for illustrative purposes only. Details have been generalized to protect client confidentiality. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.