In a recent decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) confirmed that the framework used in federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) cases, not the ABC classification test set forth in Massachusetts’ independent contractor statute, M.G.L. c. 149 § 148B, provides the appropriate test for evaluating whether an entity is a joint employer for Massachusetts wage law cases.
Background
In Jinks v. Credico, SJC-13106, a client broker for independent direct marketing companies engaged a consulting entity to provide regional direct sales services for its national clients. The consulting entity then engaged a group of salespeople as independent contractors to perform the sales support services on behalf of the broker company.
The salespeople sued both the consulting entity which had hired them directly and the company for whom they provided the consulting services, alleging that they were improperly classified as independent contractors instead of employees and thereby deprived of minimum wage and overtime. Because the consulting entity and not the company hired them directly, the plaintiff salespeople sought to hold the company liable by arguing that the entities were joint employers.
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