Opinion ID: 4367046
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Degree of Skill Required

Text: The next factor considers the worker’s skillset, which “must be evaluated with reference to the task[s] being performed.” Brandel, 736 F.2d at 1118. The skills required to work for ODPS are far more limited than those of a typical independent contractor. Cf. Werner v. Bell Family Med. Ctr., Inc., 529 F. App’x 541, 544 (6th Cir. 2013) (affirming jury’s decision that worker was an independent contractor where he had “specialized” and “unique training . . . that no other worker could perform”). At trial, workers testified that the tasks they performed required little skill, initiative, or training. One worker described his responsibilities this way: “Well, sometimes we just had to sit in our cars with the lights flashing. Sometimes I would have to actually get out and stand and be seen, and other times I would have to flag traffic.” In describing private security assignments, another worker said that he “would show up at a site and just make sure that everything was safe, locked up, or patrol the lots.” And another worker with no experience in law enforcement said that he would simply “show[] up and watch for problems. Nos. 17-5995/6071 Acosta v. Off Duty Police Servs., et al. Page 7 That was it.” He also testified that he felt like he could “do the job satisfactorily” because it required only “[c]ommon sense.” ODPS counters by pointing to the “high degree of skill and training required to become a licensed police officer.” But as the district court correctly recognized, this factor does not concern the skills possessed by a subset of ODPS’s workers; rather, it considers “the degree of skill required for the rendering of the services.” Keller, 781 F.3d at 807 (emphasis added) (citation omitted). The services provided by ODPS typically do not require the skill or training of a licensed police officer, as demonstrated by the fact that some of ODPS’s workers have no background in law enforcement. And as ODPS admits, its workers are required to attend only a four-hour training session before they begin work. These facts favor employee status for all of ODPS’s workers. See, e.g., id. at 809 (“[I]f the worker’s training period is short . . . then that weighs in favor of finding that the worker is indistinguishable from an employee.” (citation omitted)).