Pennsylvania: 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 | partial ABC (A and C) | 43 P.S. § 753(l)(2)(B) (UC Law § 4(l)(2)(B)) |
| Federal income tax, FICA, FUTA | IRS common-law test | IRS |
| Federal minimum wage and overtime | Economic reality test (FLSA) | DOL |
How the statute words it
(a) free from control or direction over the performance of such services both under his contract of service and in fact; (b) as to such services such individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business.
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 marks only prong A; the statute has both A and C.
- Construction has a separate test under the Construction Workplace Misclassification Act (Act 72 of 2010); not checked in this pass.
- Workers' comp test not checked in this pass (Business insurance lane).
Law: 43 P.S. § 753(l)(2)(B) (UC Law § 4(l)(2)(B))
Running payroll in Pennsylvania?
Recent changes
Last verified against the official source on October 9, 2026.
No changes recorded since we started tracking this page.
Sources
- Pennsylvania General Assembly (Unconsolidated Statutes, 1936 Sp. Sess. 2, Act 1) · 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.