On October 29, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held in Bennink v. Cincinnati Bell Telephone Co., LLC that an IT engineer who designed, developed, and documented his employer’s automated phone-routing system was an exempt “computer employee” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). He had no formal training in computer
It’s been a bumpy road for the federal rules on independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
In the courts, the test has always focused on the “economic reality” of the relationship between a worker and the entity that benefits from the services provided to determine whether the worker is an employee or
On September 13, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted certification of a class of independent contractor drivers who delivered packages through Dynamex Operations East for Google Express. Ouadani v. Dynamex Operations East LLC, No. 16-12036, 2019 WL 4384061 (D. Mass. Sept. 13, 2019). Ouadani, a delivery driver, sued Dynamex
On July 23, 2015, the Second Circuit, in Lola v. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Tower Legal Staffing, Inc., revived a putative collective action brought by David Lola, a contract attorney, against Skadden and Tower Legal Staffing, Inc., alleging violations of the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Second Circuit held that the plaintiff adequately pled that document review may not necessarily constitute “practicing law” under North Carolina law.