Publication
Legal Alert – Wage and Hour Division Targets Independent Contractors
by John Lomax
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division released an Administrator’s Interpretation providing guidance on the misclassification of workers as independent contractors. The guidance sets forth a comprehensive assessment of how employers and courts should interpret the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) – which governs overtime and minimum wage standards – in determining whether workers are employees or independent contractors. While demand-economy workers and companies are not mentioned by name, the guidance tackles many of the arguments that have been advanced recently to justify the use of independent contractors. The Interpretation stresses two key points: i) the FLSA’s economic realities test governs the analysis and focuses on whether the worker is economically dependent on the employer or is in business for him or herself; and ii) while several factors may be considered in making that determination, “no one factor (particularly the control factor) is determinative of whether a worker is an employee.”
About Snell & Wilmer
Founded in 1938, Snell & Wilmer is a full-service business law firm with more than 500 attorneys practicing in 16 locations throughout the United States and in Mexico, including Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego, California; Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; Washington, D.C.; Boise, Idaho; Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Portland, Oregon; Dallas, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; Seattle, Washington; and Los Cabos, Mexico. The firm represents clients ranging from large, publicly traded corporations to small businesses, individuals and entrepreneurs. For more information, visit swlaw.com.
