{"id":125,"date":"2016-01-29T19:13:08","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T19:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marcusboxerman.com\/FAQ\/?p=125"},"modified":"2016-03-29T18:08:30","modified_gmt":"2016-03-29T18:08:30","slug":"employees-or-independent-contractors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marcusboxerman.com\/faq\/employees-or-independent-contractors\/","title":{"rendered":"Are my workers employees or independent contractors?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Knowing whether your workers are employees or independent contractors is crucial for compliance with wage and hour laws and figuring it out is not always as simple as employers think.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIndependent contractor\u201d is the most common misclassification for employees. Employers are tempted to use this classification for workers because independent contractors are not subject to the usual requirements for minimum wage, overtime payments, unemployment insurance, and worker\u2019s compensation benefits.\u00a0 However, the Department of Labor has found that the vast majority of workers are employees regardless of how agreements between the employer and worker describe the relationship.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Labor using the \u201ceconomic realities\u201d test, looking to several factors to determine whether a worker is economically dependent on the business (an employee) or economically independent (an independent contractor).\u00a0 Those factors include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Whether the work performed is an integral part of the putative employer\u2019s business;<\/li>\n<li>Whether the worker\u2019s opportunity for profit or loss depends on his or her managerial skill;<\/li>\n<li>How the investment of the worker compares to that of the putative employer;<\/li>\n<li>Whether the work performed requires special skills and initiative;<\/li>\n<li>Whether the relationship between the worker and employer is permanent or temporary;<\/li>\n<li>How much control the employer exerts over the worker.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Knowing whether your workers are employees or independent contractors is crucial for compliance with wage and hour laws and figuring it out is not always as simple as employers think. \u201cIndependent contractor\u201d is the most common misclassification for employees. Employers &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/marcusboxerman.com\/faq\/employees-or-independent-contractors\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[41,54,42,39],"class_list":["post-125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-employment","tag-employee-misclassification","tag-employee-vs-independent-contractor","tag-independent-contractor","tag-worker-classification"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Are my workers employees or independent contractors? -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Knowing whether your workers are employees or independent contractors is crucial for compliance with wage and hour laws.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marcusboxerman.com\/faq\/employees-or-independent-contractors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are my workers employees or independent contractors? 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