A divided panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision by a federal district court sitting in California that had issued an order temporarily enjoining enforcement of the controversial Assembly Bill 5, which had codified the judge-made... Read More

Based on the record evidence, an Idaho skydiving instructor may have been an employee, not an independent contractor, held the state's Supreme Court. The Court said the matter should be remanded for a proper determination since the magistrate court... Read More

An Arkansas appellate court held that while the payment (and collection) of workers' compensation insurance premiums based upon a particular worker's earnings was one factor to be considered in determining whether that worker was an employee or... Read More

A Washington appellate court recently affirmed an assessment of almost $1 million in workers’ compensation premiums, penalties, and interest against a Seattle delivery service company that had argued its drivers were independent contractors and... Read More

A New York appellate court recently ruled that a state trial court was beyond its powers when it determined that an injured worker was an independent contractor and not an employee. Such a determination was for the state’s Workers’ Compensation... Read More

In a split decision, the Supreme Court of Michigan held that MCLS § 418.171(4)—a provision that prohibits the misclassification of certain employees in order to avoid workers’ compensation liability—did not apply to a plaintiff... Read More

Where a restaurant owner hired an experienced remodeler to complete work at the restaurant prior to its opening, neither the owner nor the restaurant was engaged in the “construction industry,” held the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Accordingly... Read More

An Ohio court affirmed a finding that a logger was an independent contractor and not an employee, where evidence indicated the logger was hired at a rate of $80 per day, the logger had represented that he had extensive experience in logging, the logger... Read More

The Supreme Court of South Carolina held that an employee of an uninsured cargo delivery business (West Expedited) was the statutory employee of another delivery business (Seko Charlotte), with whom West Expedited had contracted to deliver a load of parts... Read More

Reversing a decision of a federal district court (Southern District of California), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the totality of the undisputed facts indicated that various truck drivers were employees of defendant and not independent... Read More

In a decision in which the plurality, the concurring, and the dissenting opinions all quoted Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law , the Supreme Court of Vermont held that an individual who sustained injuries while student teaching received “wages”... Read More

A deputy sheriff who provided security services at a grocery store was an independent contractor; he was not an employee of the store, held an Arkansas appellate court. The court noted that the sheriff’s department required that the deputy secure... Read More

Where a husband worked in an enterprise with his wife and shared the profits (or losses) of the business equally with her, the Oregon Workers’ Compensation Board was within its powers to find that he was not a "subject worker" (see Ore... Read More

Emphasizing that the definition of “employee” within the context of workers’ compensation law was not identical with the common law definition and that the tests used to determine whether a particular worker was an employee versus an... Read More

A divided Illinois appellate court affirmed a decision awarding workers’ compensation benefits to a long-haul truck driver on the basis that he was an employee and not an independent contractor in spite of the fact that the driver owned and supplied... Read More