People: Insperity, Mlegal, Hay Group, Lucas Group and more

Professional employer organization Insperity Inc. (NYSE: NSP) announced Michael Brown will retire from the company’s board at its 2017 annual meeting of stockholders on June 16. Brown joined the board shortly after Insperity’s initial public offering in 1997.

Mlegal, a national legal search firm,...

Appeals court enforces staffing company arbitration agreement (JD Supra)

JD Supra reports a California Court of Appeal ruling regarding arbitration agreements is especially important for employers in today’s ever-evolving gig economy; it facilitates the enforcement of arbitration agreements by companies utilizing the services of staffing companies that have an arbitration...

Staffing firm sues former employee for breach of contract (Southeast Texas Record)

A Houston professional staffing company is suing a former employee, alleging breach of an employment contract, the Southeast Texas Record reports. A.D. Susman & Associates Inc. filed a complaint in Harris County District Court against Fidel Villareal, alleging violation of the non-solicitation provision...

Legislation introduced for gig economy benefit models

US Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and US Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA) today introduced legislation to test and evaluate portable benefit models designed for the independent workforce. The legislation establishes a grant fund to incentivize states, localities and nonprofit organizations to experiment with portable...

Brazil’s ride-sharing firm 99 gets $100 million investment

Brazilian ride-sharing firm 99 received a $100 million investment from SoftBank, Japan’s Internet and telecommunications giant.

The company also raised US$100 million in January from Chinese ride-sharing firm Didi Chuxing, for a total of more than US$200 million — the largest investment round ever...

Betts Recruiting names COO

Betts Recruiting Inc. named Tim Merri as COO, effective May 8. This is a new position within the company.

Merri leads the operational vision for the San Francisco-based recruiting firm and is responsible for driving sales and profitability. He is based in San Francisco and reports to founder and CEO Carolyn...

Jobless claims average hits lowest level since 1973

The US four-week moving average of initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 235,250 last week, down 5,750 from the previous week’s average, according to seasonally adjusted numbers released today by the US Department of Labor. This is the lowest level for this average since April 14, 1973,...

US workers forfeit half of their earned vacation/PTO

The average US employee who receives vacation/paid time off has only taken about half, 54%, of his or her eligible vacation time/PTO in the past 12 months, according to a survey released by Glassdoor.

This is relatively consistent with the 51% of vacation time employees reported taking in 2014, when Glassdoor...

Intuit: Gig economy is 34% of US workforce (CNN Money)

Intuit (NASD: INTU), the owner of TurboTax, sees the size of the gig workforce first hand in its own earnings, CNN Money reports. “The gig economy ... is now estimated to be about 34% of the workforce and expected to be 43% by the year 2020,” Intuit CEO Brad Smith said Wednesday on an earnings call....

‘People aren’t coming back’: Canadian oil patch faces labor problem as oil prices recover (Financial Post)

After years of being a magnet for job seekers, drilling and equipment providers in Canada’s oil patch are finding it a tough sell to lure workers back to Alberta’s gravel roads and remote camps after massive job cuts in the past years, the Financial Post reports. “We’re firing up more rigs, we’re...