For seven decades, courts and the U.S. Department of Labor have used a multifactor test to determine whether a worker is "economically dependent" on a company (and thus an employee) or in business for herself (and thus an independent contractor) under the Fair Labor Standards Act. One of those factors—whether the work is "part of the integrated unit of production"—has received relatively little attention, until recently. Over the past decade, some courts and Labor Department officials, including Secretary Marty Walsh, have tried to reframe the inquiry as whether the work is "important" to the company's business.