Independent Contractor Guidelines

If the individual is currently an employee of the University, the individual must be considered an employee no matter if the work could be considered independent contractor work.  

If the individual is a former employee, they should be considered an employee if the work they are returning to perform is similar to the work they performed before they left the university.  Individuals performing faculty duties, such as teaching, must be re-employed as a faculty member and are not able to be considered independent contractors.

When you have an individual who is not employed by the university, whatever classification is determined best for that individual should be applied to all individuals outside the university performing the same work (e.g., an individual outside of the university is classified as an employee after going through the IC/employee evaluation, then all outside individuals performing that same work should be classified as employees).  

If an individual is teaching a full semester course for OSU enrolled student’s course credit, then they must be an employee.

If an individual is an OPERS pension benefit recipient (receiving pension), and Ohio State was the last employer from which that individual contributed to OPERS prior to retirement, that individual is not able to be an Independent Contractor. 

Work Details: The Department of Early Childhood Education needs to hire a temporary professional to fulfill the requirements of a grant they received.  The grant runs three years, and the individual’s services will be required for the duration of the grant; without this individual the requirements cannot be met. The individual will be responsible for developing and administering a training curriculum for Kindergarten teachers in the state of Ohio.  Training will be provided on-site and will therefore require travel across the state. Travel Expenses will be reimbursed per University Travel Policy (hotels, mileage, etc).  Expenses related to printing training materials will also be paid directly by OSU.  Individual will meet monthly with the Grant PI to discuss progress and effectiveness. The individual will be compensated at an hourly rate, as determined by the Grant award.

Determination: In the above scenario, this individual would best be classified as a Term Employee of the University.  Important factors for this determination include that fact that the scope of work spans multiple years thus being somewhat open ended, the provider is essential to fulfilling the requirements, and expenses are to be reimbursed or covered by OSU, and the individual does not have the ability to set the rate of pay.

Work Details: The College of Engineering will be hosting an alumni awards event during Homecoming week and needs to hire a photographer to photograph the event proceedings, and award winners.  Digital photos will be provided to the college for use on websites, newsletters, etc. and copies made available to all award winners. Photographer will be needed one hour before and after the ceremony to capture guests arriving and enjoying the post awards dinner.  Pricing based on the photographer’s rates, and files would be delivered no more than two weeks after the event.

Determination: In this scenario the photographer would best be classified as an Independent Contractor due to the finite nature of the scope of work, the fact that the photographer sets their own rates and uses their own equipment, and would not be getting reimbursed for operating expenses such as insurance or travel.  Additional considerations to this case would be with regards to post production of the photos and videos from the event, which the supplier would presumably do when suits their schedule best to meet the timeline.

Work Details: OSU is hosting youth camps and needs to hire individuals who will fill various roles required to hold the camps (admin, coaching, setup, etc).  Individuals are paid a rate set by OSU, the job is considered finished at the end of the camp or camps, and the individuals would not incur any expenses associated with their roles aside from normal transportation.  OSU will be hiring active student employees, or staff/faculty at Ohio State to complete this work.

Determination: Anytime a student employee, or faculty/staff of the university is being hired by OSU to do additional work outside their standard duties they must still be paid as an employee.  It is never appropriate for an individual to be both an active employee at OSU, and be contracted as an Independent Contractor.  In these situations, the department wishing to hire the individual for the camp would need to work with their Human Resources Partner to have Additional Pay initiated for the individuals.

Work Details: OSU Extension needs to hire an individual to be an instructor and update course materials and teach the annual income tax workshops made available for a fee to Ohio tax preparers, CPA, etc.  The course focuses on interpreting tax regulations and changes in tax law to help tax preparers, accountants, financial planners and attorneys advise their clients each year. The workshops are held October thru December at various locations across the state of Ohio, and virtually via Zoom. Ohio State secures the sites for hosting the workshops.  Additionally, any expenses associated with printing materials, refreshments, and facility rental fees are paid directly by OSU.

Determination: In this scenario the tax school instructors would be likely classified as an Employee/Lecturer of the University.  Teaching is central to both the mission of Ohio State, and of OSU Extension which strongly points toward the relationship being that of employer/employee.  Other factors include that OSU is responsible for securing and paying for the space, refreshments, and materials required to hold the workshops.  Additionally, the annual nature of the workshops would also point to a lecturer type relationship/degree of permanence under the DOL rules.