Texas: 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 | control test | Tex. Lab. Code § 201.041 |
| 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 common law; TWC applies common-law control factors by rule (40 TAC § 815.134, not checked in this pass).
- Workers' comp test not checked in this pass (Business insurance lane).
Running payroll in Texas?
Recent changes
Last verified against the official source on October 9, 2026.
No changes recorded since we started tracking this page.
Sources
- Texas Legislature (Texas Statutes) · 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.