¶ … Alberty, the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment in Defendant's favor, holding that under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act) and P.R. Laws Ann. Tit. 29, 146 et seq. And 467 et seq., there was no genuine issue of material fact that Plaintiff was an "independent contractor," not an "employee." The issue on appeal was whether there were any genuine issues of material fact evidencing Defendant's unlawful discrimination against Plaintiff in violation of Title VII and Puerto Rico's anti-discrimination laws. The Court, however, used a de novo standard of review to side-step the issue of discrimination and focus instead on the parties' legal relationship. Using First Circuit Court precedent, the Court reasoned that since it could affirm a summary judgment ruling "on any basis apparent from the record," it would focus its analysis on the parties' legal relationship. Although, as explained below, this reasoning and logic is faulty on numerous levels, the Court nevertheless analyzed Plaintiff's legal status by using a "common law agency test," as dictated by circuit court precedent. The Court noted that since the test was used by the First Circuit Court in analyzing an ERISA claim -- which had an identical definition of "employee" -- the Court was justified in using it the instant matter. Under the agency test, the Court held that based on the undisputed facts, "a reasonable fact finder could only conclude that Alberty was an independent contractor." Accordingly, since an independent contractor is not an "employee," and because Title VII only covers "employees," Plaintiff essentially had no legal basis for her claim, and therefore the district court was justified in granting summary judgment for Defendant. Motion for Summary Judgment: "A court should grant summary judgment 'if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). Stated differently, if there really is only one answer to a disputed issue, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of...
Among other factors relevant to this inquiry are the skills required; the source of the instrumentalities and tools; the location of the work; the duration of the relationship between the parties; whether the hiring party has the right to assign additional projects to the hired party; the extent of the hired party's discretion over when and how long to work; the method of payment; the hired party's role in hiring and paying assistants; whether the work is part of the regular business of the hiring party; whether the hiring party is in business; the provision of employee benefits; and the tax treatment of the hired party.
Little Lamb Company Regarding our recent discussion about potential legal issues which might arise regarding Mary's termination, it must be concluded that, based on the evidence, Mary is clearly an independent contractor. Independent contractors may be distinguished from standard employees based upon the following criteria: An independent contractor is contracted on a by-project basis, versus having a permanent position at the workplace and his or her employment is largely determined upon
The first issue in this case is whether or not the massage therapist is considered to be an employee or an independent contractor. Dream Massage has hired the person as an independent contractor but "exercises complete control over how she does her work", including the provision of clients, materials needed to do the work, and complete control over the massage therapist's schedule. The IRS defines an independent contractor as follows: "an
Employee vs. Independent Contractor Employees vs. Independent Contractors John, who owns his own consulting firm, is picked to work for Make-a-Bed, a furniture manufacturer and distributor, and since he is not readily available as a full time employee, it is agreed that he should work as independent contractor. He is expected to study the business and make recommendations accordingly, to arrange for his own travel and meetings, dedicate about 20 hours each
Human Resource Case Study a summary of the facts of the case: A consultant named John Engineer took a job with "Make-a-Bed," a furniture manufacture that wished to consolidate its three plants. He wasn't hired as a regular employee, but rather as an independent contractor. Engineer was given a year to come up with a strategy to consolidate the company operations in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. He was to be paid
Grocers, Inc. Situation Good Grocers is an expanding, up-and-coming new company that needs to preserve its reputation in the competitive grocery industry. As a company which is particularly anxious to promote itself as an ethical organization given its pro-organic and buy-local stance, it must be especially careful to safeguard its positive image in the mind of the public. Given the company's need to avoid a costly lawsuit, alternative dispute resolution would
Independent Physicians The Dying Profession of Independent Physicians In the past, it has always been the case that physicians were, for the most part, independent contractors who had working agreements with certain hospitals in their region. However, that is not the case anymore. Physicians are increasingly joining healthcare organizations because the costs of remaining autonomous are too strenuous. It does not matter that independent physicians, on average still make more than their
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