Judge Rules Former Carrier Entitled to Unemployment Payments

By: Joe Strupp A former carrier for the Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette is entitled to unemployment payments, a state appeals court ruled after the newspaper lost an appeal that claimed he was an independent contractor, according to The Boston Herald.

The Herald reported Friday that the Massachusetts Appeals Court, in an opinion issued Thursday, "ruled that the newspaper exercised too much control over Thomas Driscoll?s job not to classify him as an employee.

"Under state law, an individual performing any service for a company is considered an employee unless he is free from control and direction in his performance; the service is performed outside the usual course of the employer?s business; and the individual is engaged in an independently established occupation or business of the same nature as the service," the Herald added.

A 21-year employee of the Telegram & Gazette, Driscoll sought unemployment insurance after the newspaper dismissed him in 2003, the Herald reported.

"The state denied Driscoll?s claim after determining there was no 'employer-employee relationship' between him and the Telegram," the Herald added. "But a district court judge reversed the decision in 2006, allowing Driscoll to collect about $6,000 in unemployment payments."