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Download Now The Utah Supreme Court has ruled that when determining whether a worker acted as an employee as opposed to an independent contractor for purposes of the Workers' Compensation Act, the focus is on whether the employer had the right to control the worker. Regardless of how the parties intended to structure their relationship, a worker is considered to have been an employee if the employer had the right to control how the worker executed the work. The court has consistently held that it is the right to control which is determinative and that the degree of control actually asserted is not important. Thus, an employee is one who is hired and paid a salary, a wage, or at a fixed rate, to perform the employer's work as directed by the employer, and who is subject to a comparatively high degree of control in performing those duties. In contrast, an independent contractor is one who is engaged to do some particular project or piece of work, usually for a set total sum, who may do the job in his or her own way, subject to only minimal restriction or controls and is responsible only for its satisfactory completion. The main facts to be considered are any agreements on the right of direction and control over the employee, the right to ...