There’s a headline I never expected to write. But apparently this is an issue in the Great State of Nevada.

I subscribe to a service that alerts me when new lawsuits are filed involving independent contractor misclassification disputes. This gem arrived in my inbox last week:

Sierra National Corp. dba The Love Ranch is suing the Nevada unemployment department. Apparently the State ruled that the Love Ranch’s lovely ladies were employees, not independent contractors. The Ranchers filed a lawsuit asking the State to open its files and show how it reached that conclusion. Here’s the description of the case:

Mandamus and public records. Petitioner, which operates a legal brothel, seeks to compel respondent to provide public records relating to respondent’s investigation and decision that the brothel’s prostitutes are employees, not independent contractors. Respondent agency’s blanket denial of the petitioner’s public-records request violates the state public records law.

I’d love to be a fly on the wall listening to that dispute. I imagine it went something like this:

State: Your prostitutes are employees, not independent contractors.

Love Ranch: Why?

State: Well, you know, the Right to Control Test.

Love Ranch: Seriously?! We do NOT tell them how to… Never mind.

© 2017 Todd Lebowitz, posted on WhoIsMyEmployee.com, Exploring Issues of Independent Contractor Misclassification and Joint Employment. All rights reserved.