Press & News

Ken Dolin and Camille Olson Published in The National Law Journal
01/13/2006

The January 9, 2006 issue of The National Law Journal published an article (“Are Newspaper Carriers Independent Contractors?”) written by Ken Dolin and Camille Olson. The article analyzed a recent case brought before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), St. Joseph News-Press, in which the NLRB found that newspaper carriers and haulers were not employees, but independent contractors excluded from the protection of the National Labor Relations Act.

“St. Joseph News-Press is significant,” Ken and Camille note, “because it reaffirmed the application of the board’s common law agency test in determining the independent-contractor status of newspaper carriers.” The common law agency test holds that all incidents of the employer-employee relationship must be weighed when determining employee status, with no one factor being decisive.

In auditing their independent-contractor relationships to determine whether they will withstand scrutiny, Ken and Camille advise, the factors the audit should focus on include “how much control the company exercises over the work; the skill required; the degree of financial support provided by the company; the degree of company supervision; the source of the vehicles, supplies and tools; the training provided by the company; the method of payment and provision of employee benefits; the tax treatment of the hired party; the duration of the relationship; the location of the work; the company’s role in hiring and paying assistants; whether the hired party can work for others; whether they can solicit new business; whether they can subcontract their routes to others; whether the work is part of the regular business of the company; and the parties’ intent with respect to the nature of the relationship involved.