In the never ending battle between classifying an worker as an independent contractor or as an employee, the state of Alabama has weighed into the ring. Officials of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and the Alabama Department of Labor have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to protect the rights of employees by preventing their misclassification as something other than an employee–such as an independent contractor. This MOU represents a new effort on the part of the agencies to work together to protect not only the workers’ rights but those of the employers who follow the regulations but may be undermined economically by employers who do not. This MOU is only the latest in a long string of 15 MOUs between the states and the DOL with the goal of preventing, detecting and remedying employee misclassification. States that have signed an MOU with the DOL include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New York, Utah and Washington. For more information check out the Wage and Hour Division’s webpage on Employee Misclassification as Independent Contractors.