In the middle of the Bering Sea sit two islands, Little Diomede (U.S.) and Big Diomede (Russia). They sit less than three miles apart, but Big Diomede is 21 hours ahead. That’s because the International Date Line straddles the two. This would make scheduling play dates nearly impossible, but fortunately no one lives on Big Diomede. Little Diomede is home to about 115 brave (and very isolated) souls.

The Diomedes are a great example of being close but still so far away. The Ohio Supreme Court gave us another example in a worker misclassification dispute earlier this month. Ohio companies should pay close attention to this surprising — and bad — decision.

In this case, the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) had determined that an underground-cable installation company had misclassified its workers as independent contractors rather than as employees.

The BWC looked back 5 years and handed the company a bill for $350,000 in back assessments for failing to pay into the workers compensation system. Companies pay into the system for employees, but not for contractors. The company appealed, arguing that under Ohio’s Right to Control Test, the installers were properly classified as contractors, meaning the back assessments were not warranted. The company provided evidence showing that the Right to Control factors tilted in favor of contractor status.

The Ohio Supreme Court reviewed the evidence and did not disagree with the company. You’d think, therefore, that they’d reverse the BWC decision, and the company would be relieved from paying the back assessments.

Nope.

The company was close, but oh so far from winning its appeal. That’s because the deck is stacked heavily against companies when it comes to challenging the BWC on worker classification determinations.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that, under Ohio law, so long as there is “some evidence” that could support the BWC’s conclusion, the BWC’s decision was untouchable. This is insane.

In every case involving a balancing test — like the Right to Control Test used here — there will be at least some evidence supporting employee status and some evidence supporting contractor status. The point of the test is to weight the competing factors and see which direction the scales tilt.

But according to this ruling, Ohio law grants the BWC an absurd level of deference. The decision appears to say that a court must accept the BWC’s conclusion, even if the scales tilt the other way, so long as there is “some evidence” to support the BWC’s findings.

For Ohio businesses using independent contractors, this ruling means trouble. The BWC is, of course, incentivized to find misclassification because it means more money for the state. After this ruling, companies appear to have little recourse for challenging the BWC, even when the BWC is wrong.

Ohio companies should immediately evaluate their misclassification risks. If a contractor gets hurt and brings a workers comp claim, the BWC will look for misclassification. If the BWC finds it, the BWC will not only grant workers comp coverage for the injured contractor, it will issue back assessments against the company for failing to pay into the workers comp system — with a look back of five years.

Back assessments can also be triggered by an audit.

Same for unemployment. An unemployment claim by a contractor can lead to the same result, with Ohio Job & Family Services making the misclassification call. Back assessments would issue in that scenario too for failing to pay into the unemployment fund.

This ruling goes against the whole point of having a balancing test. I might have expected this level of deference from California or New York, but not Ohio. This ruling was issued by a Republican-majority Supreme Court.

Like the Diomedes Islands, what appears close can be so far away. Your business might be able to show all the reasons why your contractors are properly classified, but it doesn’t even have to be a close call for you to lose. If BWC finds misclassification and there’s merely “some evidence “ to support its conclusion, you might as well be arguing your point in Russian, the language of all zero inhabitants of Big Diomede.

© 2022 Todd Lebowitz, posted on WhoIsMyEmployee.com, Exploring Issues of Independent Contractor Misclassification and Joint Employment. All rights reserved.