Brigitte Duffy Quoted in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
"Massachusetts Court Says Fuel Truck Driver Not 'Independent Contractor'"

Brigitte Duffy was quoted in the December 22, 2008 issue of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly in the article, "Massachusetts Court Says Fuel Truck Driver Not 'Independent Contractor.'" The article discussed a recent Superior Court decision addressing the misclassification of workers as independent contractors, which highlights the contradictions and confusion plaguing employers as a result of the 2004 amendment of the Independent Contractor Law. The Legislature amended the law to make it more difficult for employers to classify workers as independent contractors in order to avoid costs associated with overtime pay, unemployment benefits and workers' compensation.

In the case at issue, a Superior Court judge ruled that an oil delivery company had wrongly classified a driver as an independent contractor even though he provided his own truck and incorporated himself as his own company in order to limit his liability. The plaintiff driver was successful in arguing that the amended law required that he be classified as an employee because his services fell within the core business that the defendant company was engaged in and because he worked at the defendant's direction and control. Among other criticisms of the decision, Brigitte discussed her concern over one finding that said if other employees were receiving overtime despite not being statutorily entitled to it, the plaintiff was entitled to it as well. Brigitte commented, "To me, that's the most troubling part of this decision… If you're paying overtime on a voluntary basis, perhaps because of market conditions so as to be competitive, you can certainly treat people differently." She continued that the ruling, "opens a big can of worms in the wage-and-hour world without a clear sense of reason behind it. "