Independent Contractor vs Employee Check

Answer six short questions about how the work actually happens, pick the state, and get a risk rating for each federal factor plus an overall rating: likely employee, high risk, or likely contractor. State tests are layered on top, each linked to the statute it comes from. Free, no signup, and nothing you enter leaves the page.

Read this first. This tool is informational only and is not legal advice. How you classify a worker affects payroll taxes, unemployment and workers' compensation coverage, overtime and benefits, and your liability if an agency or court disagrees. Using this tool does not create an attorney-client relationship with anyone. It gives a risk rating, never a legal conclusion. For any real decision, and always when the result is high risk, talk to an employment attorney licensed in your state.

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Question 1 of 6 (federal factors)

How does this worker make more money from the work?

Opportunity for profit or loss, 29 CFR 795.110(b)(1)

Where the federal test stands

The six questions come from the Department of Labor's 2024 rule, 29 CFR 795.110: opportunity for profit or loss, investments, permanence, control, whether the work is integral to the business, and skill and initiative. No one factor decides it, and how the work happens in practice counts more than what a contract says.

Two things changed since then. On May 1, 2025 the department told its investigators to stop applying the 2024 rule in their own investigations and to use its older guidance instead (Field Assistance Bulletin 2025-1). That bulletin also says the 2024 rule still applies in private lawsuits. On February 26, 2026 the department proposed a rule to replace it, built on two core factors, control and opportunity for profit or loss (proposed rule). As of this writing it is a proposal, not a final rule.

State tests at a glance

Each state's unemployment test, and its wage law test where that is different, read on the state's own code or labor agency site. Construction and trucking often have extra rules; the checker shows those when you pick the state.

State	Unemployment test	Wage law test, if different	Source
Alabama	Common-law test		Ala. Code 25-4-10(a)(1)b
Alaska	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)		Alaska Stat. 23.20.525(a)(8)
Arizona	Right-to-control test		A.R.S. 23-613.01
Arkansas	Not confirmed from an official source
California	ABC test	ABC test	Cal. Unemp. Ins. Code 621(b); Cal. Lab. Code 2775(b)
Colorado	Two-part test: control and independent business	Two-part test: control and independent business	C.R.S. 8-70-115(1)(b); C.R.S. 8-4-101(5)
Connecticut	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)		Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-222(a)(1)(B)(ii)
Delaware	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)	19 Del. C. 3302(14)(K); 19 Del. C. 1101(a)(6) and 3501
District of Columbia	Common-law test		D.C. Code 51-101(2)(A)
Florida	Common-law test		Fla. Stat. 443.1216(1)(a)
Georgia	Not confirmed from an official source
Hawaii	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)		HRS 383-6
Idaho	Two-part test: control and independent business		Idaho Code 72-1316(4)
Illinois	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)	820 ILCS 405/212; 820 ILCS 115/2
Indiana	ABC test		IC 22-4-8-1(b)
Iowa	Common-law test		Iowa Code 96.1A(16)(a)
Kansas	Common-law test		K.S.A. 44-703(i)(1)(B) and (i)(3)(D)
Kentucky	Common-law test		KRS 341.050(1)(a)
Louisiana	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)		La. R.S. 23:1472(12)(E)
Maine	Control plus checklist test		26 M.R.S. 1043(11)(E)
Maryland	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)		Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. 8-205
Massachusetts	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)	ABC test	M.G.L. c. 151A, s. 2; M.G.L. c. 149, s. 148B
Michigan	IRS 20-factor test		MCL 421.42(5)
Minnesota	Common-law test		Minn. Stat. 268.035, subd. 15
Mississippi	Not confirmed from an official source
Missouri	Right-to-control test		RSMo 288.034.5
Montana	Exemption certificate test		MCA 39-51-203(4) and 39-51-201(15)
Nebraska	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)	Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-604(5); Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-1229(1)
Nevada	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)	Safe harbor: contractor if every condition is met	NRS 612.085; NRS 608.0155
New Hampshire	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)	Checklist test	RSA 282-A:9, III; RSA 275:42, II
New Jersey	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)		N.J.S.A. 43:21-19(i)(6)(A)(B)(C), as quoted by NJDOL; rules at N.J.A.C. 12:11
New Mexico	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)		NMSA 1978, 51-1-42(F)(5)
New York	Common-law test		N.Y. Labor Law 511(1)
North Carolina	Common-law test		N.C.G.S. 96-1(b)(10) and (12)
North Dakota	Common-law test		N.D.C.C. 52-01-01 (definition of employment, subdivision e)
Ohio	Right-to-control test		Ohio Rev. Code 4141.01(B)(1)
Oklahoma	IRS 20-factor test		40 O.S. 1-210(14)
Oregon	Control plus independent business checklist		ORS 670.600 (applies to ORS chapter 657, unemployment insurance)
Pennsylvania	Two-part test: control and independent business		PA Unemployment Compensation Law, 43 P.S. 753(l)(2)(B), as stated by PA Department of Labor and Industry
Rhode Island	IRS 20-factor test		R.I. Gen. Laws 28-42-7
South Carolina	Common-law test		S.C. Code 41-27-230(1)(b)
South Dakota	Two-part test: control and independent business		SDCL 61-1-11
Tennessee	IRS 20-factor test		Tennessee 2019 HB 539 (effective January 1, 2020), as stated by the TN Department of Labor and Workforce Development
Texas	Right-to-control test		Tex. Lab. Code 201.041
Utah	Two-part test: control and independent business		Utah Code 35A-4-204(3)
Vermont	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)	21 V.S.A. 1301(6)(B); 21 V.S.A. 341(1)
Virginia	IRS 20-factor test	IRS 20-factor test	Va. Code 60.2-212(C); Va. Code 40.1-28.7:7
Washington	ABC test (B prong can be met two ways)		RCW 50.04.140
West Virginia	Safe harbor: contractor if every condition is met		W. Va. Code 21-5I-4 (applies to unemployment, workers' compensation, Human Rights Act and wage payment law)
Wisconsin	Control plus 6 of 9 conditions		Wis. Stat. 108.02(12)(bm)
Wyoming	Checklist test		Wyo. Stat. 27-3-104(b)

Questions

Is this a legal answer?

No. It is a risk rating built from your answers. Classification turns on the whole relationship and how it works in practice, and agencies and courts can weigh the same facts differently. If the result is anything other than a clear "likely employee", and especially if it says high risk, talk to an employment attorney before you rely on it.

Which federal test does this use?

The six economic reality factors in the Department of Labor's 2024 rule, 29 CFR 795.110. In May 2025 the department told its investigators to stop applying that rule (Field Assistance Bulletin 2025-1), and in February 2026 it proposed a replacement. The 2024 rule is still in the regulations and still applies in private lawsuits, so the six factors are still worth checking.

Why does the state matter?

State unemployment, wage and workers' compensation laws use their own tests, and many are stricter than the federal one. An ABC test, for example, presumes the worker is an employee unless all three parts are proven. A worker can pass the federal factors and still be an employee under state law.

What does a 1099 or a signed contractor agreement change?

On its own, very little. Most tests look at how the work actually happens, not what the paperwork calls it. A few states, like West Virginia and Nevada, give contracts and paperwork more weight, and the tool shows those rules when you pick the state.

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