{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.