Misclassification and the NLRB. The National Labor Relations Board thus has stayed out of the fray when it comes to independent contractor classification. However, the agency is inviting public comment on whether it should be involved — specifically, “Under what circumstances, if any, should the Board deem an employer’s act of misclassifying statutory employees as independent contractors a violation of Section 8(a)(1) of the [National Labor Relations Act]?”
Section 8(a)(1) deems it an unfair labor practice for employers to “interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7” of the Act. Section 7 in turn guarantees employees “the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.” In the context of IC misclassification, at issue is whether the misclassification itself runs afoul of the NLRA and thus should be regulated by the NLRB.
The public comment period closes April 16.
Harvard. Harvard University has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit over misclassifying workers as independent contractors and will adjust its labor policies university-wide as part of the settlement, the Boston Globe reported.
