THE COST OF LITIGATION
As a company, Ryan Staffing has from time to time been the victim of lawsuits that are frivolous at best and extortion at worst. It has always grated at me when I've agreed to pay out nuisance dollars to settle a lawsuit when I know we've done nothing wrong. The cost of litigating almost always exceeds the cost of settling by tenfold or more...so it becomes a business decision.
Most of us remember the McDonalds hot coffee lawsuit.
It was filed by Stella Lieback and has now honored her by the creation of the "Stella Awards" for the most frivolous lawsuits filed during the year. A recent winner purchased a 32 foot Winnebago motor home. To make a long story short she was driving it home on the freeway and set the cruise at 70 mph. She then left the driver's seat to go back and make a sandwich.
The Winnebago crashed (duh) and she prevailed to the tune of $1,750,000 and a new motor home because the company did not put in the owner's manual not to leave the driver's seat after engaging the cruise control.
I feel much better about my own legal problems after reading this story on the internet...which of course makes it true, right?
ARE TEMPS THE PROBLEM?
If you listen to local talk radio, you will often hear the jokes about temps and how they are the cause of all the unemployment problems in the country. Not true.
Temps share of total employment is still well below the peak levels of the late '90s when it was a shade below two percent. The current share of temp employment is 1.6 percent of the labor force. So, maybe it's time to blame China or NAFTA for the problem and give the poor temp help industry a break.
FEDEX GROUND DRIVERS PROPERLY CLASSIFIED INDEPENDENT
A recent court ruling determined that FedEx Ground drivers were properly classified as independent contractors. This huge lawsuit, which involved multiple states where the drivers challenged their status, found that the "weightiest factor" in making their ruling involved the right to control issue.
ECONOMIC ACTIVITY UP
January's manufacturing activity in the U.S. expanded by the fastest rate since May 2004. The index rose to a reading of 60.8 up from 58.5 in December and the highest since the 61.4 2004 number.
This is backed up by increases in the Staffing Index which measures growth in the employment of temporary help and traditionally indicates positive economic growth. That index in January stood at 89 up 13% from the same period a year ago.
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