Around the Newspaper Legal World in 60 Minutes(ARCHIVE)
Originally recorded on April 9, 2020
In this webinar…
In this webinar, Michael Zinser will cover the following 3 topics:
• Newsroom Union Organizing – Newsrooms have been organized at many newspapers, large and small, including The Missoula (Montana) Independent, Casper (Wyoming) Star-Tribune, The Columbian (Vancouver, Washington), Chicago Tribune, Omaha World Herald, and others. Michael will examine the causes of these unionizing efforts and how management should address an organizing attempt.
• State Unemployment Agency Audit Attempts – All across the country, state unemployment departments are attempting to reclassify independent contractors as employees in order to assess thousands of dollars in unemployment taxes. Zinser will discuss how best to handle these audits and how to handle any resulting litigation.
• Premium Editions – Many publishers are bundling “Premium Editions” with daily newspaper subscriptions. Several class-action lawsuits have been filed claiming that publishers have run afoul of unfair business practice statutes at the state level. Zinser will discuss legal issues that arise with Premium Editions.
• State Unemployment Agency Audit Attempts – All across the country, state unemployment departments are attempting to reclassify independent contractors as employees in order to assess thousands of dollars in unemployment taxes. Zinser will discuss how best to handle these audits and how to handle any resulting litigation.
• Premium Editions – Many publishers are bundling “Premium Editions” with daily newspaper subscriptions. Several class-action lawsuits have been filed claiming that publishers have run afoul of unfair business practice statutes at the state level. Zinser will discuss legal issues that arise with Premium Editions.
About the presenter:
Michael Zinser is President of The Zinser Law Firm, P.C., in Nashville, Tennessee. His Firm represents over 250 daily newspapers, stretching geographically from Hawaii to Iowa to New York. He has particular experience with the independent contractor issue, Wage and Hour laws, and the National Labor Relations Act. During his career, he has defended independent contractor status for newspapers in 40 of the 50 states. Zinser is General Counsel to seven circulation trade associations, assisted numerous press associations with newspaper industry legislation and assisted the New York News Publishers Association with legislation to make it easy to preserve independent contractor status. In 2014, Zinser was inducted into the National Circulation Director Hall of Fame. He is the first non-circulation director recipient of this honor.