Expert Analysis

"The Appellate Division, Second Department recently reversed a trial court decision that had dismissed Labor Law claims brought against Boar's Head Provisions by three of its distributors. Each of these distributors had operated as an authorized distributor of Boar's Head products for years - on paper, an independent business. In practice, the court found, the picture looks considerably different."

"The complaint alleges that Boar's Head controls virtually every meaningful aspect of how distributors run their operation: Work hours, pricing, marketing, uniforms, vehicle design, and even the cosmetic presentation of products. Boar's Head required its approval before a distribution route could be sold from one authorized distributor to another."

"Under New York's standard, the critical inquiry is the degree of control the putative employer exercises over the results produced or the means used to achieve those results. Where that control is more than incidental, a question of fact arises and that question belongs to a jury, not a motion to dismiss."

"The standard for how to classify a worker is not a business preference. It is a legal standard established by multiple variables and in New York, that standard is guarded by worker advocates and aggressively enforced by agencies."

The Appellate Division, Second Department reversed a trial court's dismissal of Labor Law claims against Boar's Head Provisions by distributors. The court found that Boar's Head exercised significant control over distributors, including work hours, pricing, and marketing. This control indicated that the distributors were not truly independent contractors. The legal standard for worker classification in New York focuses on the degree of control exerted by the employer, which must be determined by a jury rather than dismissed outright. The Department of Labor is also revisiting its independent contractor classification rules.

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