A fierce fight is unfolding in employment law. A fight that goes to a key threshold issue: Is a worker an employee of an employer or an independent contractor in the worker's own business?

The stakes could not be higher. If an independent contractor, then the worker is not covered by  well over a half century of remedial legislation: the Fair Labor Standards Act and the National Labor Relations Act from the 1930s; Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act from the 1960s; and the Employee Retirement Security Act and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act from the 1970s. In short, good luck independent contractor, you are on your own. And once upon a time that was fine because the demarcation between employee and independent contractor was bright and well defined.

For instance, say an independent contractor had her own business, a business in which she would remodel the kitchen of a home or one in which she would build a tool shed for a factory. The one doing the hiring set out the objectives (" I want a kitchen that looks just like  this photo") and the contractor decided upon the means to make the wish into a reality. Everyone gained and was satisfied.