The Massachusetts Independent Contractor Misclassification Law, M.G.L. c.149, s.148B, makes it almost impossible for an employer to permissibly classify you as an independent contractor in order to avoid the payment of wages, benefits, and taxes, including overtime, unemployment and worker’s compensation insurance premiums, and social security contributions.
Massachusetts employs a three prong test to determine if you are an independent contractor. The first prong measures the degree of control and direction over you by the employer. The second prong provides that your service must be outside the normal business of the employer. Finally, under the third prong the court considers whether the service you provide could be viewed as an “independent trade or business.”
If you provide services under the control and direction of an employer and those services are provided by the employer in its usual course of business, you must be classified as an employee for purposes of wage and hour law, social security contributions, and the withholding of state and federal payroll taxes. When you prevail in a claim that you were misclassified as an independent contractor Massachusetts provides for the automatic award triple damages and attorney’s fees.
Common occupations in which employees are misclassified as independent contractors include truck drivers, limousine drivers, nurses, massage therapists, and exotic dancers.