The Party Staff, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Oakland California. The company has supplied staff for more than 100,000 events from backyard barbecues to black-tie dinners, cocktail parties to corporate events. The company provides formal and banquet servers, buffet attendants, tray passers, bartenders, cooks/chef/prep, grillers/carver/captains, event managers, host/hostesses, event attendants, set-up and break-down, concessions, coat check, permanent placements.
According to multiple media reports the company has filed a groundbreaking lawsuit on January 8, 2025 against many of their competitors challenging their claim to have exempt employees who are part of the gig economy. The case is The Party Staff v. Qwick, California Superior Court, San Francisco County, No. CGC-25-621259.
According to The Party Staff allegations, “This case is brought under the California Unfair Competition Law, Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200, et seq. (“UCL”), based on Defendants’ widespread misclassification of employees as independent contractors in violation of numerous provisions of the California Labor Code, as well as under California Labor Code § 2753, which imposes liability upon persons who knowingly advise employers to classify individuals as independent contractors to avoid employee status.”
“In accordance with the California Labor Code, Plaintiff classifies its workers as employees and thus bears the typical costs of being an employer, such as paying minimum wage and overtime and complying with other Labor Code protections, maintaining workers’ compensation insurance, and paying significant payroll taxes.”
“However, in recent years, Plaintiff has been increasingly undercut significantly by competing companies that bill themselves as “gig economy platforms”, such as Defendants Qwick, Instawork, and Tend, which have lifted a page from the “Uber” playbook, and misclassified their workers as independent contractors rather than employees.”
“In reality, Qwick, Instawork, and Tend are hospitality staffing companies (just like Plaintiff), and they have violated California law by classifying their workers as independent contractors. In so doing, they have been able to offer lower prices than Plaintiff, thereby gaining a significant competitive advantage.”
The Party Staff goes on to allege that “companies such as Defendants Aramark and ISS Guckenheimer that hold contracts for dining and catering services with large institutions have then contracted with Qwick, Instawork, and Tend for staffing, allowing Aramark and ISS Guckenheimer to profit from and perpetuate this misclassification as joint employers of those workers.“
“Plaintiff, which has complied with the law by classifying its workers as employees, has had its business significantly undercut by Defendants’ actions and has lost numerous clients as a result, significantly impacting its revenue. Defendants’ conduct is both unlawful and unfair, in violation of California’s Unfair Competition law.”
The Party Staff is seeking injunctive and declaratory relief in the form of an order directing Defendants to comply with the California Labor Code, among other relief.
Boston-based lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordan, who represents The Party Staff, said the lawsuit is the first of its kind involving staffing firms. “When companies misclassify workers, they make it very difficult for law-abiding companies to compete, and they drive an economic race to the bottom,” Liss-Riordan told Reuters.