A Curious Finding

One of the mainstays of providing certain services without falling into a money pit by hiring employees is the "independent contractor" situation. The criterion in this particular case, "being free from control or direction" by the company, however, appears to have bagged the T&G.

One could easily get the impression that those who pay independent contractors to perform various types of services on a regular basis might fall into this habit of expecting the independent contractor to behave like an employee.

The other side of this coin, however, is the simple fact that one is paying for a service. If the independent contractor doesn't want to perform this service in the manner and at the time specified by those paying them for it, then why the hell can't they just get rid of them and pay someone else who will???

Well, on the face of it, you'd think this was a curious finding by the court. But upon reading the facts in the case, you might just change your mind about that... The plaintiff in this case had been delivering newspapers for the T&G for twenty-one years! Suddenly, he's not doing a good enough job?

Personally, I've heard more than just a few rumblings over the years concerning how the T&G treats their delivery people, but I never really paid too much attention to it until today.