Restaurant-delivery app Caviar Inc. has tapped Keker & Van Nest to fend off claims it misclassified workers as independent contractors.
Partners R. James Slaughter, Ashok Ramani and Simona Agnolucci entered their appearances Wednesday on behalf of the company.
Caviar uses couriers to drop off food orders for customers that connect to the service online or through a mobile app and is one of several "sharing economy" ventures facing litigation over its treatment of workers. A suit filed in March claims
R. James Slaughter, Keker & Van Nest
the company avoided reimbursing couriers for work expenses by improperly classifying them as independent contractors instead of employees.
Caviar, which was acquired by mobile-payment company Square Inc. in August, claims on its website that its couriers earn up to $25 an hour on a flexible schedule.
Boston-based attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, who sued on behalf of a potential class of Caviar couriers, is also targeting car services Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc., cleaning-service Homejoy and delivery service Postmates Inc. She claims the companies all misclassified their workers, and in so doing, denied them employment benefits including minimum wage and overtime.
Keker & Van Nest also represents Lyft. Paul Hastings represents Homejoy, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher represents Uber. An attorney has not yet entered an appearance for Postmates.