On August 7, 2014, the Washington Supreme Court unanimously adopted the "economic reality" test to determine whether a joint employment relationship exists under Washington's minimum wage state ("MWA"), chapter 49.46 RCW in Becerra et al. v. Expert Janitorial LLC and Fred Meyer Stores, Inc. (Case No. 89534-1).

In Becerra, the plaintiffs worked as independent contractors (the validity of that classification was not at issue on appeal) for subcontractors who provided janitorial services to Expert Janitorial LLC. Expert then had a contract with Fred Meyer to provide janitorial services in Fred Meyer stores in the Puget Sound while those stores were closed and locked at night. None of the plaintiffs were formally employed by Expert or Fred Meyer. The plaintiffs were regularly required to work more than eight hours per day because they were locked in the store and could not leave until the Fred Meyer employees reviewed their work and signed them out the next morning. The subcontractors paid the plaintiffs less than the minimum wage and did not pay them overtime.

The plaintiffs sued the subcontractors, Fred Meyer and Expert for violation of the MWA among other things. Fred Meyer and Expert moved for summary judgment on the grounds that they were not the plaintiffs' employers. The trial court applied the joint employment test set forth in Bonnette v. California Health and Welfare Agency, 704 F.2d 1465, 1469 (9th Cir. 1983) and granted summary judgment as to both, primarily on the ground that they were not involved in the hiring and firing of the plaintiffs.

More at source: Lexology

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