Employees or Independent Contractors?

The U.S. Labor Department delivered an opinion today. Long story short, the Labor Department is saying that many employees are being mislabeled as independent contractors. I know it's not law, but it's likely that judges will look to the Labor Department's opinion when ruling in cases. Just wondered what people thought this might mean for UFC fighters as there has been some question as to what constitutes employee status in recent years regarding the UFC.

This brings up a fascinating point, because I can see it argued either way.
On the one hand, technically yes, the fighters are "economically independent of the employer" because nothing is stopping them from working elsewhere in addition to the UFC. For example, Shane Carwin was known for keeping his engineering job while fighting, Chris Lytle was a fightfighter, etc. And just because they can only fight for the UFC, doesn't mean that applies, because a lot of companies will hire a person or company only if they agree to some type of exclusivity agreement. 


You could also argue that a fighter IS economically dependent on the UFC in that training for a fight is a job in and of itself (which technically the UFC is not paying you for) and the amount of training required prevents you from having another income source. You could also argue that a fighters brand or ability to make money off their brand is dependent on the UFC cuz the notoriety of fighting for the UFC increases the value of ones image relating to sponsorships and the ability to make money elsewhere.

In my opinion, if you have a long term multi fight deal you should be regarded as an employee. If you have a single fight contract then you are a contractor for that one fight. 

I don't know the legalese or benefits to being considered an employee, but I can guess it doesn't hurt the fighters to be considered an employee. That being said, the UFC would want to avoid anything that will potentially cost them more money, or actually benefit the fighters. 

The main distinction would deal with taxes (as the UFC already offers fighters health insurance, which, as a side note, seems to indicate to me that they are in fact employees). If you're an independent contractor, you're basically paying 14% for FICA, whereas, if you're an employee you should pay 7% and the employer will pay the other 7%. There are some other reasons, but in my mind, this is the big one.