Employment Law - Independent Contract Case Study - Essay Example

The IRS defines an employee using existing common-law rules (IRS P-15a 4). The IRS maintains that it makes no difference how you label the relationship because the relationship between the employer and the person performing the service defines the relationship (IRS P-15a 4). The relationship that existed between Ark Bark and Joshua was bound by an oral agreement which was not put to writing. The employer, according to the case study, maintained an employer/employee relationship with Joshua by staying in frequent contact with him via telephone.

It demonstrates that the employer, not Joshua, was in charge of maintaining the relationship that existed between them. The IRS tells us to examine the element of behavioral control between the parties (IRS P-15a 6). Behavioral control, whether it rests with the employer or the person performing the service, is significant in identifying the nature of the relationship. Behavioral control establishes “[…] whether a business has the right to direct and control how the worker does the task for which the worker is hired […] (IRS P15a 6).

” An employee, the IRS states, must generally follow the employer’s instructions on when, how, and where to perform the work (IRS P-15a 6). The employer gives the employee these instructions, that normally include the tools to use in performing the work, identifies who will assist the employee in accomplishing the work, where the employee must purchase or receive the relevant supplies and equipment necessary to perform the work, who performs each component of the task and in what order of priority it is performed (IRS P-15a 6).

In the case study presented, we cannot say the employer issued directions to Joshua on when, how, and where to perform the work because we do not know the substance of the sixty-eight telephone calls made to Joshua by Ark Bark’s vice president. The employer did not provide Joshua the tools to perform the sales work, although