The U.S. Supreme Court Jan. 10 declined to review a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that will cost Microsoft millions of dollars in payments to current and former temporary workers because it failed to treat them as employees for purposes of favorable stock-purchase rights (Microsoft Corp. v. Vizcaino, U.S., No. 99-498, cert. denied 1/10/00).
Left standing is the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Vizcaino v. Microsoft Corp., 173 F.3d 713 (9th Cir. 1999), vacating a district court’s order narrowing the class of workers potentially eligible for Microsoft’s lucrative employee stock benefit plan.
