Contract Types & Employment Law

A 1099 contractor is a US independent contractor who receives a Form 1099-NEC at year end rather than a W-2, reporting…

The 12-week qualifying period is how long an agency worker must work in the same role with a hirer before gaining equal…

The ABC test is a three-part test some US states, such as California under AB5, use to decide whether a worker is an…

Affirmative action, for US federal contractors, means maintaining written programs under Executive Order 11246 to…

An Affirmative Action Plan is a written program US federal contractors must keep to show how they ensure equal…

The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (AWR) give UK temporary workers equal pay and basic conditions after 12 weeks in…

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in…

At-will employment is the US legal doctrine under which either the employer or employee can end the employment…

A BFOQ, or bona fide occupational qualification, is a narrow US Title VII exception that lets an employer require a…

Co-employment risk is the legal exposure when a client is treated as a joint employer of an agency's temp and becomes…

A comparable worker under the UK Agency Workers Regulations 2010 is a hirer's permanent employee doing similar work,…

Constructive dismissal is when an employee resigns because their employer fundamentally breached the employment…

A contract for services is the UK contract engaging a self-employed contractor to deliver defined work, unlike a…

Corp-to-corp (C2C) is a US contracting structure where the client or agency pays a contractor's incorporated company,…

A DBS check is a UK criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service, at four levels, with the level set…

Deemed employment is the finding that a contractor working through a personal service company is, for UK tax, an…

The EEO-1 report is an annual US filing to the EEOC where covered employers report workforce headcounts by job…

An employee works under a contract of employment with full statutory rights, such as unfair dismissal protection,…

In UK law, an employment agency introduces job seekers to a hirer who employs them directly. The agency earns a…

In UK law, an employment business supplies temporary workers to hirers and stays responsible for paying them and…

Employment status in UK law is the category of employee, worker or self-employed contractor, set by the real working…

In UK off-payroll working rules, the engager is the end client where a contractor works, responsible for deciding…

An exempt employee is a US worker classified under the FLSA as ineligible for overtime pay, which requires meeting both…

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the US federal law setting minimum wage, overtime, recordkeeping and child labor…

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the US federal law that establishes the federal minimum wage ($7.25/hour in…

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a 1993 US law giving eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid,…

A fixed-term contract is an employment agreement with a defined end date — for a project, a season, or a specified…

The four-fifths rule is a US test for adverse impact: a selection procedure is flagged if a group's selection rate…

GDPR in recruitment is how UK GDPR governs the way agencies and employers collect, store and share candidate data,…

Garden leave is a notice period in which a resigning employee stays on full pay but must not work, contact clients or…

In UK staffing, the hirer is the client entity a worker is supplied to, and it carries its own legal duties under the…

A hostile work environment is a US legal concept under Title VII where severe or pervasive harassment over a protected…

IR35 is UK tax legislation that determines whether a contractor working through a personal service company (PSC) should…

The IRS 20-factor test, from Revenue Ruling 87-41, is the US framework for judging whether a worker is an employee or…

In UK contracting, an intermediary is any entity between a worker and the end client, such as a personal service…

An irregular hours worker is a UK classification, effective April 2024, for workers with variable hours that changes…

Joint employment is the US legal doctrine under which a staffing agency and its client can both be treated as a…

The Living Wage is an independently calculated hourly rate, separate from the statutory National Living Wage, and UK…

The UK National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage are statutory hourly pay floors under the National Minimum Wage…

Worker misclassification is treating a legal employee or worker under UK law as self-employed, creating unpaid PAYE,…

Mutuality of obligation is one of three UK employment status tests, asking whether the employer must offer work and the…

A non-compete agreement is a contractual clause that restricts an employee or contractor from working for competing…

A non-exempt employee is a worker entitled to overtime and minimum wage under the US Fair Labor Standards Act, a status…

A non-solicitation agreement is a contract barring a person from approaching another party's employees or clients for a…

Overtime is time worked beyond a legal or contractual threshold, typically paid at a premium, such as 1.5 times the…

PILON (payment in lieu of notice) is a payment made instead of working out a notice period, ending employment at once…

A personal service company (PSC) is a limited company through which an individual provides services to clients, and it…

Prevailing wage is the minimum rate paid to workers on US federally funded construction and service projects, set by…

A protected class is a group, such as those defined by race, religion, sex or age, that US federal law bars employers…

Reasonable accommodation is an adjustment employers must make so a qualified person with a disability can work, under…

Retaliation is an employer's adverse action against a worker for a protected activity, such as reporting…

The right of substitution is a UK contractor's contractual right to send someone else to do the work, a main factor…

Right to work is a person's legal permission to take employment in a country, which UK and US employers must verify or…

Safe harbor is a US tax provision, notably Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978, that can protect a business from…

A salary history ban is a US state or city law that stops employers, and often employment agencies, from asking…

A secondment is a temporary transfer of an employee to another role, team or organisation while the original employer…

In the UK, self-employed is a legal and tax status that HMRC tests on the substance of the working relationship, not on…

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex, and…

An umbrella company is a UK employment intermediary that employs contractors, runs their pay through PAYE and invoices…

Undue hardship is the legal standard under the ADA that lets an employer refuse an accommodation that would impose…

A W-2 employee is a worker classified as an employee under US tax law, where the employer withholds income tax, Social…

A whistleblower is an employee who reports illegal, unethical or unsafe conduct by their employer, either internally,…

A work-seeker is a person actively seeking employment; in South African labor law the term has a statutory meaning tied…

A worker in UK employment law holds a status between employee and self-employed contractor, with core rights such as…

Worker classification is the determination of whether a person is an employee or independent contractor, setting their…

Worker misclassification occurs when an employer or staffing agency incorrectly designates a worker as an independent…

Wrongful termination, or wrongful dismissal in UK law, is ending an employment contract without following its terms,…

A zero-hours contract is an employment arrangement where the employer is not obliged to offer any minimum hours and the…