You Decide Template
Name ____________ Date______

Scenario Summary:

Your Role/Assignment:

Your role is to decide if Karen is an independent contractor or an employee and discuss some of the preventative and ethical situations that are occurring in this case.

Questions:

1. Do you feel that Karen is an independent contractor or an employee? What is your rationale for this decision? Upon Karen’s initial hire, her title was clearly defined as a “Human Resources Temporary”, in which in error, she has been compensated as an independent contractor. Karen’s position with the company is measured as a white collar job (e.g., accounting, engineering, law). These jobs can be considered as consulting jobs. Please take not that a consultant can be “independent” or a “temporary worker” based on the contract agreement between the two parties. An employer does not have to necessarily hire an outside agency to recruit and staff employees for short-term or long-term projects. The ABC Utility company can hire on temporary workers which are classified as casual workers, seasonal, or interim and offer or decline healthcare benefits. This gives the ABC Utility company flexibility for improvement and keeps down their costs. Karen’s title changed to be of similarity to other workers, yet her position with the company still remains as having a contract with the ABC Utility company.

2. What factors do you feel help contribute to Karen being an employee?
The rule of thumb for contracted workers, casual or temporary, differs from an independent contractor. Many companies have committed fraud by hiring on casual or temporary employees and classify them as independent contractors. According to the IRS, an employee is one who performs services for you is your employee if you can control what will be done and how it will be done (irs.gov). Although Karen has