questions & answers

Question: I got hurt doing a job at a flea market site for extra money, I was paid to pick up trash and to weed eat the property. I was weed eating and fell down an embankment and cut my leg. Is the owner responsible to pay for my medical bills? He says he's not because I was under a contract which is not true I never signed any contract at all with him, just a verbal to weed eat the property and pick up track for a free booth for the the year that was all I was suppose to do. thanks for your response

Answer:

In order to receive Workers’ Compensation benefits the person injured must be classified as an employee. Only employees injured on the job in the State of Arizona have Workers’ Compensation rights. A.R.S. 23-901 defines who is an employee. It states that an employee does not include a person whose employment is both casual and not in the usual course of the trade, business or occupation of the employer. Workers’ Compensation is not required for independent contractors. http://www.ica.state.az.us/Claims/Forms/Claims_FAQs_WorkersCompensation.pdf

The Internal Revenue Service states “The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if the payer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done…You are not an independent contractor if you perform services that can be controlled by an employer (what will be done and how it will be done). This applies even if you are given freedom of action. What matters is that the employer has the legal right to control the details of how the services are performed.”  (See http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Independent-Contractor-Defined) There are several other factors that a court will use to determine if someone was an employee, such as length and method of employment. The factors will be looked at as a whole when the court makes its decision.

To see if you would qualify as an employee versus a casual worker or an independent contractor, please consult an attorney.