NLRB Overturns Independent Contractor Test
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has returned to a previous standard for evaluating the status of independent contractors versus employees. On Jan. 25, the NLRB stated in the SuperShuttle DFW Inc. case that the franchisees are not statutory employees under the National Labor Relations Act, but rather independent contractors excluded from the law's coverage. The board found that "the franchisees' leasing or ownership of their work vans, their method of compensation, and their nearly unfettered control over their daily work schedules and working conditions provided the franchisees with significant entrepreneurial opportunity for economic gain." Additionally, with the absence of supervision and the parties' understanding that the franchisees are independent contractors, the NLRB decision affirms the acting regional director's finding that the franchisees are independent contractors. The NLRB decision overrules FedEx Home Delivery, a 2014 NLRB decision that modified the applicable test for determining independent contractor status by severely limiting the significance of a worker's entrepreneurial opportunity for economic gain.