ABSTRACT
Ergo, the use of freelancers who are treated as independent contractors. Even in AAA studios and large software companies, the use of contingent labor is very common. Most indie developers treat the people outside of themselves and their business partners who work on the games as independent contractors. Sometimes this treatment is correct, but always. Confusion over worker status where they receive the wrong forms and no taxes taken out of their pay is called worker misclassification. But since executive orders override the IRS, the Trump administration’s 2021 ruling loosened the definition of “independent contractor” to instead employ an “economic reality test”. Labor laws are outside of this book’s scope, but the courts have used both the IRS test and FLSA definitions in worker misclassification suits. While this also would fall under the relationships concept, behavioral control is really what determines the kind of relationship.
