Companies trying to save money will sometimes hire people as independent contractors.  But what happens when those that are hired as independent contractors injure someone else?  Generally, the person who employs an independent contractor is not liable for the damages caused by the contractor, but there are some exceptions to this rule.  First, the court will have to determine if the person was an employee or an independent contractor

What’s The Difference Between An Employee And An Independent Contractor?

There are several differences between an employee and an independent contractor, including tax issues, benefits, and direction by the employer.  An independent contractor is one who, although hired by the employer to perform a certain job, is not under the employer’s immediate control, and may do the work more or less in the manner he himself decides upon.  For most courts, the main point of contention will revolve around whether the employee is subject to the control of the employer.

For some, this means that the employer must have control over physical details.  This means, that there needs to be more than just controlling general matters.  For example, George claims that Newt, a newspaper carrier, assaulted him when the 2 had an argument about delivery of George’s morning newspaper.  George sues both Newt, and Manu co, the publisher of the newspaper, asserting that Newt was Manu co’s employee.  The courts have ruled that Newt was an independent contractor of Manu co, not an employee.  While Manu co did control the territorial boundaries of Newt’s route, set the time by which the papers had to be delivered and handled complaints about the delivery, Manu co never met Newt or even knew that he had been hired.  The newspaper’s rules on how the deliveries were to be done wasn’t enough to meet supervision, dominion or control.

Additionally, it doesn’t necessarily matter what a company designates a person.  Just because an employer and a person have a “contractual agreement,” and that agreement calls the person an independent contractor, the employee is not necessarily an independent contractor.  If the employer exercises supervision, dominion and control over the person, they will be deemed to be an employee, not an independent contractor.

What do you think?  Should an employer be able to say someone is an independent contractor?

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