A person who is hired to provide services to a company on a regular basis in exchange for compensation and who does not provide these services as part of an independent business.
A person who works for and is paid by another (the employer), and who is under the control of the employer. An employee is to be distinguished from an independent contractor, who works for himself. The line between the two is often fuzzy, but the legal consequences are important. Different tests to determine whether someone is an employee or independent contractor are used for different purposes—taxes, workers’ compensation, liability, unemployment insurance, and so forth. The same person can easily be both an employee and an independent contractor, at the same time, for different purposes.