Update: court throws out wrestlers’ suit against WWE (again)
Two performers have fallen flat in an effort to get a Connecticut federal court to reinstate their suit. Daniel Schwartz has more; earlier here and here.
If I were being treated as an independent contractor and wanted to assert that my employer ought to be treating me as an employee, I would just file form SS-8 with the IRS and let IRS fight it out with the employer.
Their contracts may call the independent contractors, but it is hard to imagine how these guys control the means and methods of their work and do not work at the direction of the WWE.
In other areas of law, such as construction law, the contract is the starting point. One can argue that the principle was their de facto, if not de jure employer. It seems to me that having someone who would normally be an employee to sign a contract making them an independent contractor could be subject to some substantial abuse.
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If I were being treated as an independent contractor and wanted to assert that my employer ought to be treating me as an employee, I would just file form SS-8 with the IRS and let IRS fight it out with the employer.
Their contracts may call the independent contractors, but it is hard to imagine how these guys control the means and methods of their work and do not work at the direction of the WWE.
In other areas of law, such as construction law, the contract is the starting point. One can argue that the principle was their de facto, if not de jure employer. It seems to me that having someone who would normally be an employee to sign a contract making them an independent contractor could be subject to some substantial abuse.