From JDSupra, Richard J. Reibstein provides a review of independent contractor compliance news for April 2016 including a report that product advocates were found to be employees in Utah. Richard writes:
ONLINE PRODUCT ADVOCATES HELD TO BE EMPLOYEES, NOT IC’S. A Utah appellate court held that product advocates retained by an Internet chat-based customer service platform were correctly classified by the Utah unemployment compensation board as employees and not ICs. The product advocates chat in real time with customers of retailers about the retailer’s products. Under Utah state law, workers are regarded as employees for unemployment purposes unless they are (a) free from direction and control over the means of performance of services both under contract and in fact, and (b) customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession, or business. The unemployment compensation board only addressed the second factor, finding that the product advocates were not independently established in business. The court affirmed the board’s determination. Needle Inc. v. Department of Workforce Services, Workforce Appeals Board, No. 20141157 (Ore. Ct. App. Apr. 28, 2016).
See the full update for April:
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