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This covers the United States and Canada, and it says which is which on every screen that states a rule. The tests below are stable. The documents describing them are not — both countries changed theirs in the last two years. It is general information, not legal advice about your own job.
Every job sits in a legal box. The box decides whether you get overtime, who pays which taxes, and what happens if you are hurt at work.
Most people do not know which box they are in.
Sort what each one usually means.
Tap an item, then a bucket
Salaried does not mean no overtime.
Overtime is decided by whether a job is exempt, and being paid a salary is only one part of that.
Your contract can call you a contractor. That does not make you one.
If your agreement says you are an independent contractor, what decides your real status?
A person put in the wrong box can lose minimum wage, overtime, and other protections they were legally entitled to.
That is what misclassification costs, and it is why there is a test at all.
One question, asked in a few different ways: are you running your own business, or are you economically dependent on theirs?
Everything else is a way of getting at that.
The IRS asks three things: who controls how the work is done, who controls the money side, and what kind of relationship it is.
Do they set your hours, your methods, your tools? Do they train you in how they want it done?
The more they direct, the more it looks like employment.
Did you buy your own equipment, or did they? Can you lose money on a job, or is your pay guaranteed?
A business can make a loss. An employee cannot.
Is there a written contract? Are there benefits like a pension, insurance or paid leave? Is it ongoing? Is the work a core part of what the business does?
Overtime and minimum wage are not decided by the tax test. Labor law uses its own, called economic reality.
Not necessarily. Two agencies, two statutes, two tests — you can land differently under each.
Control. Who owns the tools. Whether you can make a profit or take a loss. And how far you are woven into the business.
Canada's highest court settled this in 2001. There is no checklist score. The whole relationship is weighed together.
The case is Sagaz, and it is still the law.
The guide the Canada Revenue Agency published for years was cancelled in January 2026. The US changed its wage test in 2024 and proposed changing it again in 2026.
The underlying questions did not move at all.
Work out which box you are in by describing what really happens, not by reading your contract.
If the description does not match the label, that gap has a name and a process.
Both countries let a worker ask the authorities to rule on their status, and neither charges for it.
Asking is not an accusation. It is the mechanism working as designed.