Attorneys

Russell-HollrahRussell A. Hollrah

Partner
202-659-0878
rhollrah@hollrahllc.com

Russell A. Hollrah is an “AV” rated attorney with a national practice dedicated to employee-benefits, employment taxes, and the specific application of those laws to contingent workers, such as independent contractors and leased employees. He advises firms on structuring relationships with contingent workers, either directly or through a third-party firm. He also regularly defends companies against challenges to their treatment of individuals as non-employees before the U.S. Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service and state unemployment agencies. Mr. Hollrah has developed innovative strategies for transitioning a company from an independent-contractor-based business to an employee-based business.  His clients include both the companies for which contingent workers perform services as well as the companies that engage workers and refer  them to perform services for other companies. His practice covers both federal and state laws.

Mr. Hollrah is the author of Alternate Staffing (PJC Publishing, formerly published by Thompson Publishing Group), Hollrah’s State Guide on Independent Contractors (PJC Publishing) and When Leasing is Smarter than Hiring (Thompson Publishing Group). He is a contributing author on contingent-worker issues for the treatise Successful Partnering Between Inside and Outside Counsel (West Group) and for The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (ALI-ABA). Mr. Hollrah has published numerous articles on contingent-worker and employee-benefits issues in professional journals, such as the Brooklyn Law School Journal of Law and Policy, Journal of Compensation and Benefits, The Tax Executive, The Daily Report for Executives, and Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal. He has been quoted on contingent-worker issues in publications such as Newsweek, Investors Business Daily, Bloomberg, Purple Squirrel, HR Magazine, IP Magazine, Telecommute Magazine, Tax Notes, and Forbes.

He was retained as a special consultant to design internet-based independent-contractor evaluation programs for a Fortune 100 company and an independent-contractor advisory firm, as well as to develop a nationally marketed computer program for creating independent-contractor arrangements. Mr. Hollrah served as Chair of the Employment Taxes Committee of the Tax Section of the American Bar Association (2002-2004). He received a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Maryland, beta alpha psi, a J.D. from the University of Tulsa, where he served as a member of its law journal, and an LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown University. Mr. Hollrah is a former equity shareholder in the Washington, D.C. office of a large international labor and employment law firm.

Mr. Hollrah has been a featured speaker on employee benefits and contingent-worker issues before many organizations. The following is a representative list. 

American Bakers Association

American Moving & Storage Association

American Payroll Association

American Trucking Associations

Association of Language Companies

ATA Litigation Center

Coalition to Promote Independent Entrepreneurs

Direct Selling Association

Driver Employer Council of America

Drug Information Association

Field Marketing Services Association

Independent Bakers Association

Independent Contractor Association of America

International Warehouse Logistics Association

Joint National Committee for Languages

Lexis/Nexis

MSPA Americas

National Association of Attorneys General

National Association of Chemical Distributors

National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses

National Association of Concessionaires

National Association of Demonstration Companies

National Association of Government Labor Officials

National Association of Independent Insurers

National Association for Retail Marketing Services

New York State Land Title Association

Pennsylvania Homecare Association

Private Care Association

Tax Section of the American Bar Association

Tax Section of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia

Thompson Publishing Group

Transportation Law Institute

Washington Employee Benefits Group.