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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 58th Legislature (2021)
SENATE BILL 380 By: Bergstrom
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to independent contractor
classification; creating The Uniform Worker
Classification Act; providing short title; stati ng
purpose; including and interpreting other provisions
of law; stating criteria to determine independent
contractor; requiring certain classification based on
criteria; construing right of principal to hi re
employee; requiring uniform classification of workers
within state; direct ing political subdivision to use
certain criteria to determine worker classification;
providing for codification; and providing an
effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 720 of Title 40, unless there is
created a duplication in nu mbering, reads as follows:
This act shall be known and may be cited as “The Uniform Worker
Classification Act”.
SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 720.1 of Title 40, unless there
is created a duplication in numb ering, reads as follows:
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The purpose of The Uniform Worker Classification Act is to bring
clarity, certainty and uniformity under the laws of this state to
differentiate employees from independent contractors in employmen t
and to impose objective and uniform standards for making that
distinction. All laws where the application thereof is contingent
upon the classification of a worker as being an employee are hereby
superseded and interpreted to the extent necessary by this act
including but not limited to any workers’ compensation, unemployment
compensation, wage, civil rights and tort claims laws codified in
the statutes of this state.
SECTION 3. NEW LAW A new section of law to b e codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 720.2 of Title 40, unless there
is created a duplicat ion in numbering, reads as follows:
A. Subject only to the provisions of subse ction B of this
section, a person shall be classified as an independent contractor
under the laws of this state including, but not limited to, those
laws codified in statute and identified in Section 1 of this act,
if:
1. The person signs a written contract w ith the principal, in
substantial compliance with the terms of this subsection, that
states the principal ’s intent to retain the services of the person
as an independent cont ractor and contains acknowledgements that the
person understands that he or she is:
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a. providing services for the principal as an independent
contractor,
b. not going to be treated as an employee of the
principal,
c. not going to be provided by the principal with either
worker’s compensation or unemployment compensation
benefits,
d. obligated to pay all applicable federal and state
income taxes, if any, on any monies earned pursuant to
the contractual relationship, and th at the principal
will not make any tax withholdings from any payments
from the principal, and
e. responsible for the majority of supplie s and other
variable expenses that he or she incurs in connection
with performing the contracted for services unless:
the expenses are for travel that i s not local, the
expenses are reimbursed under an express provision of
the contract or the supplies or expenses reimbursed
are commonly reimbursed under industry practice ;
2. The person has either filed, intends to file or is
contractually required to file, in regard to the fees earned from
the work, an income tax return with the Internal Revenue Service for
a business or for earnings from self -employment, or provides his or
her services through a business entity including, but not limited
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to, a partnership, limited liability company or corporation or
through a sole proprietorship registered with a DBA as requi red
under state or local law ;
3. With the exception of the exercise of control necessary to
ensure compliance with st atutory, regulatory, licensing, permi tting
or other similar obligations required by a governmental or
regulatory entity, or to protect person s or property or to protect a
franchise brand, the person has the right to control the manner and
means by which the work is to be accomplished, even th ough he or she
may not have control over the final result of the work. This
provision is satisfied even though the principal may provide
orientation, information, guidance or suggestions about the
principal’s products, business, services, customers and op erating
systems, and training otherwise required by law ;
4. The person satisfies three or more of the follow ing
criteria:
a. except for an agreement wi th the principal relating to
final completion or final delivery tim e or schedule,
range of work hours, or the time entertainment is to
be presented if the work contracted for is
entertainment, the person has control over the amount
of time personally spent providing services,
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b. except for services that can only be perfor med at
specific locations, the person has control over where
the services are performed , or
c. the person is not required to work exclusively for one
principal unless:
(1) a law, regulation or ordinance prohibits the
person from providing services to more than one
principal, or
(2) a license or permit that the person is required
to maintain in order to perform the work limits
the person to working for only one principal at a
time or requires identification o f the principal,
and
d. the person is free to exer cise independent initiative
in soliciting others to purchase his or her services ,
and
e. the person is free to hire employees or to contract
with assistants, helpers and/or substitutes to perform
all or some of the work;
5. The person cannot be required t o perform additional services
without a new or modified contract;
6. The person obtains a license or other permission from the
principal to utilize any workspa ce of the principal in order to
perform the work for which the person was engaged;
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7. The principal has been subject to an employme nt audit by the
Internal Revenue Service and the IRS has not reclassified the person
to be an employee or has not reclassified t he category of workers to
be employees;
8. The person is responsib le for maintaining and bearing the
costs of any required b usiness licenses, insurance, certifications
or permits required to perform the services ; or
9. The person meets the standards promulg ated by the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) for an independent con tractor or is an
incorporated business entity.
B. All workers who do not s atisfy the criteria set forth in
subsection A of this section shall be classified as employees . In
addition, nothing contained in subsection A of this section shall
require a principal to classify a worke r who meets the criteria
contained therein as an in dependent contractor; the principal always
being free to hire the worker as an employee.
C. The state and its political subdivisions shall determine and
classify independent contractor status uniformly. Each political
subdivision shall utilize the provisions of this section to
determine independent contracto r status.
SECTION 4. This act shall become effective November 1, 2021.
58-1-291 NP 1/13/2021 8:48:50 AM