Appeal of Borichevsky, 126 N.H. 461, 462, 494 A.2d 772, 773 (1985) (quoting Nashua Corp. v. Brown, 99 N.H. 205, 206, 108 A.2d 52, 57 (1954)); see Laws 1981, 408:2. This court has previously examined the independently established trade requirement of RSA 282-A:9, III(c) in Weiss-Lawrence Co. v. Riley, 100 N.H. 41, 118 A.2d 731 (1955). A review of that opinion indicates that the purpose underlying this requirement is to insure that workers will survive the termination of their employment relationships when such termination results through no fault of their own.
Cases construing similar statutory language in other jurisdictions have reached the same result. Hasco Mfg. Co. v. Maine Employment Security Comm'n, 158 Me. 413, 185 A.2d 442, 443 (1962); Weiss-Lawrence, Inc. v. Riley, 100 N.H. 41, 118 A.2d 731, 734 (1955); Peasley v. Murphy, 381 Ill. 187, 44 N.E.2d 876, 879 (1942); Unemployment Compensation Comm'n v. Jefferson Standard Life Ins. Co., 215 N.C. 479, 2 S.E.2d 584, 588 (1939). To succeed in this case, Burns had the burden of proving each of the three requirements necessary to establish an independent contractor relationship with the roofers.
Such is contrary to the language of the statute and regulation and to the underlying purpose of the law "to insure in limited measure against unemployment of individuals regularly attached to the labor market which is not occasioned with their consent or by their fault." Wellman v. Riley, 95 N.H. 507, 510, 67 A.2d 428, 429 (1949); accord, Weiss-Lawrence, Inc. v. Riley, 100 N.H. 41, 118 A.2d 731 (1955). Plaintiff's unemployment after September 7 was occasioned not by her leave of absence but by her employer's lack of work.
See Barb's 3-D Demo Serv. v. Director, Ark. Employment Security Dept., 69 Ark. App. 350, 353-356 (2000); AFM Messenger Serv., Inc. v. Department of Employment Security, 198 Ill.2d 380, 397-398 (2001); Hasco Mfg. Co. v. Maine Employment Security Commn., 158 Me. 413, 414-415, 418-419 (1962); Koontz Aviation, Inc. v. Labor and Industrial Relations Commn., 650 S.W.2d 331, 332, 334 (Mo.App. 1983); Standard Chem. Mfg. Co. v. Employment Security Div. of Mont. State Dept. of Labor Indus., 185 Mont. 241, 247-252 (1980); Weiss-Lawrence, Inc. v. Riley, 100 N.H. 41, 45-46 (1955); Revlon Serv., Inc. v. Employment Div., 30 Or. App. 729, 734-735 (1977); Lake Preston Hous. Corp. v. South Dakota Dept. of Labor, 587 N.W.2d 736, 738-739 (S.D. 1999). Many States have codified guidelines and lists of factors to assist employers evaluating whether a worker is engaged in an independently established business.