My sister is one of those people that throws you the morning paper before you rise and shine for the day :)
Apparently the Inquirer has been holding paychecks for almost two weeks now bc they don't have enough money for that payroll. How long can they legally hold her paycheck?

Hang on for someone for more experience with these matters, however it is important to note that this company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this week.

Section 13(d) of the FLSA provides that newspaper deliverypersons can properly be classified as nonemployees (independent contractor), therefore any recourse she may have is going to be an issue of her agreement.

Thank you, however what does that mean ?? Are they legally allowed to not pay her?

What that means is that, as a nonemployee, the DOL will not entertain her claim for unpaid wages. A small claims action would be the first, and cheapest, alternative.

If they filed for bankruptcy, you might end up having to put in a claim with the bankruptcy court like any other creditor owed money.

Agreed with all of the other answers. Just to be clear, all workers are either employees or independent contractors (IC). Only employees are subject to labor law, which means that nonemployees cannot get help from state or federal DOL. Nonemployees are legally vendors, and their sole legal recourse involves courts and contract law.

It is very common for employers to try to classify workers as IC when legally this is not true. Unfortunately as Patty pointed out the employee in question is what is called a "statutory nonemployee", meaning Congress in their wisdom passed a law saying that this type of worker is out of luck as far as labor law goes.