North Dakota: 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 | common law | N.D.C.C. § 52-01-01(17)(e) |
| Federal income tax, FICA, FUTA | IRS common-law test | IRS |
| Federal minimum wage and overtime | Economic reality test (FLSA) | DOL |
Details and exceptions
- effective_date is the DOL table baseline (in effect on or before 2023-01-01); the enactment date was not checked.
- DOL Table 1-4 says IRS test; the statute names the common law test.
- Workers' comp test not checked in this pass (Business insurance lane).
Law: N.D.C.C. § 52-01-01(17)(e)
Running payroll in North Dakota?
Recent changes
Last verified against the official source on October 9, 2026.
No changes recorded since we started tracking this page.
Sources
- North Dakota Legislative Branch (Century 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.