EnglishClub TEFL Forums (archived)

ATTENTION: If you currently work for or previously worked for #EFEducationCenter AKA #Englishtown AKA #EFLive AKA #EFLanguageSchools and worked as an independent contractor teacher, you may want to file a claim with the Massachusetts Attorney General.

Other teachers have already filed claims against EF claiming the school violates the 2004 Independent Contractor Law in Massachusetts. As noted in the law, employers must meet all three elements of the law:
1) Prong One: Freedom from Control: The first prong of M.G.L. c. 149, s. 148B provides that the individual must be “free from control and direction in connection with the performance of the service, both under his contract for the performance of service and in fact” in order for the individual to be an independent contractor.

2) Prong Two: Service Outside the Usual Course of the Employer’s Business: Prong two of M.G.L. c. 149, s. 148B(a)(2) provides that the service the individual performs must be “outside the usual course of business of the employer” in order for the individual to not be classified as an employee. Prior to the 2004 amendment, the employer could alternatively demonstrate that the work was performed “outside of all places of the business of the enterprise.” The Law does not define “usual course of business” and Massachusetts courts have had limited opportunities to do so.

3) Prong Three: Independent Trade, Occupation, Profession or Business: Prong three provides that the individual “is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed” in order for the individual to be classified other than as an employee. M.G.L. c. 149, s. 148B(a)(3). “Under the third prong, the court is to consider whether the service in question could be viewed as an independent trade or business because the worker is capable of performing the service to anyone wishing to avail themselves of the service or, conversely, whether the nature of the business compels the worker to depend on a single employer for the continuation of the services.”

PLEASE, TAKE A STAND AND TELL EF Language Schools that IT IS NOT OKAY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF TEACHERS.