On February 13, 2026, a federal district court in Pennsylvania entered summary judgment against a home health company, Amazing Care Home Healthcare Services LLC, and its owner and manager, in a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), finding the defendants liable for misclassifying both licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and home health aides (HHAs) as independent contractors (ICs) instead of employees. This post focuses on nurses as ICs, a topic we have addressed on other occasions on this blog, most recently on December 3, 2024. As we noted in that post, classifying nurses as ICs “runs the risk of very substantial misclassification liability if the IC relationships are not structured, documented, and implemented in a manner that enhances compliance with applicable laws and minimizes this type of legal exposure.” As we discuss below, the court held in the Amazing Care case that the IC relationships with LPNs (and HHAs) failed to satisfy the applicable test for IC status under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). As a result, the DOL is seeking nearly $12 million in unpaid overtime and statutory liquidated damages from the corporate and individual defendants, personally. Nursing agencies, health care systems, and other businesses using nurses can take steps to minimize this type of legal jeopardy by using a process such as IC Diagnostics (TM) to maximize IC compliance in a customized and sustained manner.