Court Upholds Independent Contractor Status

When BellSouth Telecommunications hired workers to repair high-voltage cables damaged as a result of Hurricane Katrina, it thought it was hiring independent contractors.  It paid the workers $86 per hour for 84 hours of work per week and required that the workers provide their own equipment.  After agreeing to work for BellSouth and collecting $51,628 over a 3 month period, one of the independent contractors decided to sue BellSouth to try to obtain even more money.  The independent contractor claimed that he was actually an employee covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act and that he was entitled to overtime for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week.  The trial court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected this contention, finding that the contractor was not covered by the FLSA becasue there was insufficient evidence to find that he was an employee.  The decision is here, and it is an excellent examination of the factors that go into determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor.