Software Giant Wins New Hearing

A federal appeals court will take another look at a ruling that forced Microsoft Corp. to pay benefits to hundreds of temporary and freelance workers. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco had ruled in October that the workers, who did much the same work as regular employees, were entitled to some of the same retirement and stock-option benefits. The ruling was seen as a potential setback to high-tech companies, which increasingly rely on freelance workers to save millions of dollars in benefit costs. This week the court said a majority of its 20 active judges had voted to refer the case to an 11-judge panel for a new hearing. A hearing date was not set.