Working Toward Break Point: Professional Tennis and the Growing Problem with Employee and Independent Contractor Misclassifications

Authors

Elizabeth Priest, Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of LawFollow

Abstract

An often overlooked yet extremely pressing issue in the U.S. economy is the misclassification of workers as independent contractors when they are actually employees. Because of such misclassifications, workers are denied their rights to federal antidiscrimination protections and the ability to collectively bargain through unions. Courts across the country utilize a variety of legal tests to determine if a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. The three most important legal tests are the right to control test, the economic realities test, and the ABC test.

Using men’s professional tennis as a case study, this Comment argues for the uniform adoption of the ABC test. As a pertinent example, tennis players are incorrectly classified as independent contractors under current legal frameworks. The ABC test provides the best answer to the independent contractor problem because it is the most straightforward, adaptable, and beneficial for both employers and workers.

Recommended Citation

Elizabeth Priest, Working Toward Break Point: Professional Tennis and the Growing Problem with Employee and Independent Contractor Misclassifications, 75 SMU L. Rev. 943 (2022)