{4:36 minutes to read} On March 24, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, in the case of Anicich v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., issued a decision that may have a significant impact on employers. The court reversed the dismissal of a complaint brought by the estate of a woman murdered by her supervisor, who had an alleged history of harassment and sexual abuse.
{3:06 minutes to read} In recent years, there have been court challenges to the real estate independent contractor relationship, and to date, the real estate industry has prevailed. In Part 1 of this series, we discussed how state statutes mandate that real estate brokers exercise reasonable supervision over the activities of their salespersons, even though those agents are considered “independent contractors.” Below are two recent court challenges to the existing status quo assumption that real agent agents are independent contractors.
{3:06 minutes to read} Real estate agents have generally been classified as independent contractors by brokers, but agents, unlike independent contractors in other industries, are subject to supervision by the brokers. This level of supervision is mandated by state statutes that require brokers to exercise reasonable supervision over the activities of his or her salespersons. The statutes also require the establishment of policies, rules, procedures and systems to review, oversee, inspect and manage such areas as document management and retention, the handling of trust funds, and reports of salesperson activity.
{3:53 minutes to read} With the subject of what to do with illegal immigrants being a hot topic of debate in the 2016 presidential campaign, it should be noted that there is no debate as to the state of the law; any business that hires a worker not legally authorized to work in the United States faces significant civil and, in some cases, criminal liability.
{3:42 minutes to read} In July, the U.S. Department of Labor published a 15-page administrator’s interpretation of the employee vs. independent contractor standards. This document is not so much a change in the standards as it is a change in the manner in which the government is interpreting the employee vs. independent contractor test.
In effect, there is going to be a stricter interpretation of the structural relationship, which means there is a greater likelihood that a worker who a company intended to be an independent contractor is, in fact, going to be deemed an employee by the government. Federal and state authorities are increasingly committed to combating worker misclassification, and independent contractor designations are being challenged with closer scrutiny.