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New Massachusetts Ruling on Independent Contractors Raises Questions
In September, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announced that her office had secured $1.46 million in citations against Dunkin’ franchise operators and two staffing agencies for misclassifying workers as independent contractors, including store managers, shift managers/leaders, coffee makers, and bakers.
Coffee makers and bakers? I’m stunned that anyone might think that coffee makers and bakers at a donut shop would qualify as independent contractors, and yet they did.
There are a variety of tests to determine if a worker is an independent contractor. But in general, an independent contractor is an individual service provider who:
- Controls how their work is performed
- Performs work for more than one client
- Operates their own business
I don’t understand how a coffee maker or baker comes anywhere close to meeting these criteria. It is surprising not only that this happened in 2026, but also how often workers in positions where it is difficult to imagine them qualifying as independent contractors are misclassified.
Consider these examples:
Janitors. Janitors working for a company or janitorial service have been misclassified as independent contractors. It might be possible for an individual who establishes their own cleaning company to provide janitorial services for multiple clients to support an independent contractor classification. However, it is hard to see how a janitor working for a janitorial service gets classified as an independent contractor.
Restaurant workers. Servers, cooks and dishwashers have also been misclassified as independent contractors. Independent contractors control how they perform their services. I don’t know why that applies to servers, cooks or dishwashers in restaurants.
Phlebotomists. I acknowledge that it takes special skills to draw blood (at least I want someone who is going to draw my blood to be skilled and trained). But I don’t see how phlebotomists operate their own businesses or provide services to multiple clients (multiple patients, yes, but not clients). In some cases, phlebotomists were required to sign non-compete agreements.
Security guards. This is yet another group of workers that I have a hard time seeing classified as independent contractors. In general, security guards lack the opportunity to control how they do the work and don’t provide services to other clients.
Ultimately, companies that try to save money by classifying workers such as coffee makers and bakers as independent contractors make it harder for legitimate businesses and legitimate independent contractors. They increase the scrutiny on independent-contractor relationships—which may lead to legislation that is intended to help these workers but makes it more costly and difficult for firms to engage true independent contractors.
For more information, check out our misclassification and compliance solutions for enterprises. If you have any questions about engagement, classification or management of your independent workforce, we’re always here to help.
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