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Civil Rights - Worker Classification

The Civil Rights Bureau enforces the hybrid common law right of control test/economic realities test that was adopted by the federal courts in Spirides v. Reinhardt, 613 F. 2d 826 (D.C. Cir. 1979).

Right to Control

  • In that case, the court stated that the employer's right to control the means and manner of the worker's performance is the most important factor.

Eleven Additional Factors

  • However, the court also indicated that there are eleven additional factors which a court must consider in order to determine whether a worker is an "employee".

The right of control test is not separate from the economic realities test. The entirety of the circumstances regarding the relationship between the worker and the employer must be considered.

In Moore v. LIRC, 175 Wis. 2d 561, 569, 499 N.W. 2d 289 (Ct. App. 1993), the Wisconsin Court of Appeals adopted the Spirides test as the test to determine if a worker is an employee or a non employee under the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act.