'Handyman' complains of discrimination, but was she an employee?

By Emily Hobbs-Wright

Despite the broad reach of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appealswhich covers Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyomingrecently dismissed a handyman's pay discrimination and retaliation claims after finding she wasn't an employee of the company that managed the properties where she provided her services.

Using the joint employer test, the court determined that the property management company wasn't the handyman's employer because it didn't exercise sufficient control over the essential terms and conditions of her employment. Let's take a closer look at the case.

Lewis General Contracting, Inc. (LGC), contracts with outside clients to provide handyman services. During the period in question, LGC essentially had one client, Picerne Military Housing, LLC, later known as Corvias Military Living, LLC. Picerne managed housing on numerous U.S. military bases nationwide, including the U.S. Army base at Fort Riley, Kansas. It employed its own property managers, maintenance supervisors, and technicians, who had specialized training. For more routine maintenance needed when housing units were vacated, Picerne contracted for handyman services with outside vendors such as LGC.

Picerne provided all of its vendor companies, including LGC, a pay scale specifying the flat fees that would be paid for typical handyman tasks. The fees varied depending on the neighborhood on the base, but not depending on the particular vendor company or handyman assigned to the job. Picerne paid its vendors directly, and the vendors then paid their handymen.

LGC kept 15 percent of the fees to cover its administrative costs and paid its handymen the remainder, less FICA taxes and state and federal income tax withholding. It also provided its handymen with W-2 forms.

Lisa Knitter worked for LGC as a handyman on Picerne properties for about eight months in 2010. LGC's owner knew Knitter's disabled husband and hired her with the understanding that her husband would volunteer to help her on the job as needed. She was often accompanied by her husband when she provided handyman services at Fort Riley units.

Although the Knitters generally had a positive relationship with Picerne managers and supervisors, they had some negative experiences with three members of the staff. Knitter alleged that one of Picerne's maintenance supervisors, Rodney Hayworth, sexually harassed her, calling her a "dumb blonde" and telling her to go home and "get laid" when she was in a bad mood.

She alleged that he repeatedly expressed chauvinistic opinions about women and their intelligence and had sexually graphic conversations with other men in front of her, which made her uncomfortable. She also claimed that he paid her lower fees because she is a woman.

Knitter complained about Hayworth to Picerne managers several times. For instance, she told the assistant director of maintenance operations, Brian Lamb, that Hayworth was harassing her and discriminating against her. Shortly thereafter, Lamb contacted LGC's owner and asked him not to send Knitter to Fort Riley anymore. Because there was no work for her outside the Fort Riley assignments, LGC terminated her.

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'Handyman' complains of discrimination, but was she an employee?