Futrell was hired by Reactor Films for traffic control on the site of a television commercial shoot. Rather than maintain a staff of full-time employees, Reactor hired freelance crew members as needed for each commercial. Reactor outsourced its payroll functions to Payday California, a payroll processing company. Over a period of four years, Futrell worked on several commercial productions; the number of hours varied per commercial depending on the circumstances of the production. Futrell filed suit against Reactor and Payday claiming that they were joint employers and that he was an employee, which entitled him to overtime benefits. Futrell claimed that Payday was an employer because he submitted all time cards and employee information sheets to Payday and his W-2 tax form identified Payday as his employer. Reactor and Payday claimed that Futrell was an independent contractor and not entitled to employee benefits.

CASE QUESTIONS

1. How compelling is the evidence that Futrell supplied (i.e., time cards, W-2 forms, etc.) that Payday was his employer and he was not an independent contractor? Does tax status help determine agency status?

2. How much direction and control did Reactor have over Futrell?

Was it sufficient to indicate an agency status?