From the Claims Journal, Jim Sams report that the Ohio Supreme Court said tht ditch diggers were employees and not independent contractors under Ohio’s workers compensation statute. Jim writes:
Ditch diggers who accepted work assignments online and used their own spades and shovels to do the work cannot be classified as independent contractors by a company that contracted with Time Warner Cable to install underground lines, a divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled this week.
In a 5-2 decision, the high court affirmed a Court of Appeals judgment that Ugicom Enterprises employed the laborers it assigned to bury underground lines and owes the state Bureau of Workers’ Compensation $346,817.55 for unpaid premiums. The majority said in its unsigned opinion that it isn’t drawing a bright line to determine the limits of the gig economy, it is holding only that the bureau had “some evidence” to support its determination that Ugicom was an employer.
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The Supreme Court listed eight factors that can be used to determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor in 1943 decision. It found “some evidence” that six of those factors support the BWC’s determination that the installers were employees.
- Ugicom’s regular business is to install underground cable, which is exactly the work that it hired the installers to do.
- Installers wore badges with the name of Ugicom and Time Warner, evidence that they were not independent of Ugicom.
- Ugicom did not allow installers to negotiate on price; the installers had to take whatever pay was authorized for specific jobs.
- The installers did not advertise their services to the community, evidence that they had an ongoing relationship with Ugicom.
- The independent-contractor agreements that the installers signed contained a clause that prohibited them from working for Ugicom’s competitors.
- Minimal skill was required for the work. The installer’s job was basically to dig ditches to bury cable and to connect the cable to a box on the home.
Read the full story at Ohio Supreme Finds Ditch Diggers Misclassified as Independent Contractors
