The High Court of Australia on Wednesday handed down two landmark decisions that provide greater clarity on the definition of employee and contractor, which may have major ramifications for gig economy workers. The High Court bench unanimously determined in one case that two truck drivers who worked for a company for 40 years under a partnership agreement were not employees but independent contractors. Martin Jamsek and Robert Whitby, initially truck drivers employed under the predecessor businesses of ZG Operations, later agreed to contracts to purchase their own trucks and carry goods for the company. Jamsek and Whitby argued that ZG Operations had the “most complete example of control” in directing the operations. However, the bench stated that it was power to give directions to make deliveries rather than how it should be carried out. “The totality of that relationship was not that of employer and employee,” the judgement states. As …