A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about an initiative by the U.S. Department of Labor, IRS and various state agencies to launch a coordinated crack-down on employers who misclassify employees as independent contractors. Recently, a U.S. District Court in Ohio issued a ruling that nicely illustrates the problem of misclassifcation and the potential liabilities that employers can face as a result. Solis v Cascom, Inc...

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Labor filed a lawsuit against Cascom, Inc., a business that contracted with Time-Warner Cable to install residential cable services in Southwestern Ohio. Cascom's installation work was performed by cable installers, whom the company classified as independent contractors. The installers were paid by the job rather than by the hour, and did not receive overtime pay. The DOL alleged that the workers were in fact employees, and that Cascom violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay required overtime and failing to maintain records of the installers' hours.

After a bench trial, the court ruled in favor of the DOL, holding that the installers were in fact employees entitled to overtime pay. The court noted that the following factors all supported its finding....