Delaware: employee or independent contractor?
The test depends on which law you're dealing with. A worker can be a contractor for one law and an employee for another.
| Law | Test | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Unemployment insurance | ABC | 19 Del. C. § 3302(10)(K) |
| Federal income tax, FICA, FUTA | IRS common-law test | IRS |
| Federal minimum wage and overtime | Economic reality test (FLSA) | DOL |
The ABC test
Under Delaware's unemployment law, a worker is an employee unless all three parts are met:
(i) free from control and direction in connection with the performance of such service, both under the individual's contract for the performance of services and in fact; (ii) such service is performed either outside the usual course of the business for which the service is performed or is performed outside of all the places of business of the enterprise; (iii) customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed.
Details and exceptions
- effective_date is the DOL table baseline (in effect on or before 2023-01-01); the enactment date was not checked.
- Workers' comp test not checked in this pass (Business insurance lane).
Running payroll in Delaware?
Recent changes
Last verified against the official source on October 9, 2026.
No changes recorded since we started tracking this page.
Sources
- Delaware General Assembly (Delaware Code) · data as of October 8, 2026 · last checked October 9, 2026
We copy figures from official sources and re-check them against the source before every update. See our methodology. This is general information, not legal advice.