InterConnect FLASH! No. 59 - Massachusetts "ABC" Test Court Decision: Fresh Application On Old Spin

Over the last two years, the Benesch Transportation & Logistics Team has written in various installments of the FLASH about the Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149, §148B (the “Massachusetts ‘ABC’ Test”). The Massachusetts “ABC” Test provides that a worker is properly classified as an independent contractor if the employer can show that: (A) the individual is free from control and direction in connection with the performance of the service, both under his contract for the performance of service and in fact; and (B) the service is performed outside the usual course of the business of the employer, and (C) the individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed. As we reported in FLASH Nos. 53 and 54,1 the First Circuit Court of Appeals held that Prong B of the Massachusetts “ABC” Test was preempted for motor carriers under the Federal Aviation and Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (“FAAAA”).2 Nevertheless, Prongs A and C of the Massachusetts “ABC” Test remain in play. The preemption of Prong B does not equal a free pass.

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