December 2013 Monthly Independent Contractor Compliance And Misclassification Update

This past month, a number of cases were decided by the courts involving misclassification of employees as independent contractors, but there were no regulatory or legislative actions of note.

In the Courts

• Massachusetts federal court grants summary judgment in favor of delivery drivers classified as independent contractors that were operating as corporations, concluding that they were employees of Home Delivery of America ("HDA") under the Massachusetts wage and hour law. The drivers performed services for HDA by delivering and installing products that customers had purchased through Sears and K-Mart stores. The court rejected HAD's argument that the drivers were not "individuals" covered under the state's wage and hour law because the drivers had contracted with HDA not as individuals but through business entities including LLCs and S corporations. The court found that, "in substance" the drivers were employees and not persons "acting genuinely as an