Case Study

CONTRACT VS PERMANENT EMPLOYEES

Vizcaino v. Microsoft Corp.,184 F.3d 1070 (9th Cir. 1999),cert. denied,528 U.S. 1105 (2000).

This lawsuit was originally filed against Microsoft on behalf of employees of Microsoft who were classified as temporary employees or independent contractors. They claimed that they should have been treated as permanent employees and should have been entitled to participate in employee benefit plans such as health insurance, the company's stock purchase plan, and similar benefits.

Directions

• case summary-
• arguments for plaintiff -
• arguments for the defendant -
• court's decision and reason -
• what you feel the court should have decided and why -
• what the company (i.e., HR) should have done to prevent a lawsuit -
• what the Company (i.e., HR) should do in the future -
• three (4) sources listed in a bibliography format -