The arts management blog Butts in the Seats featured comments from Venable attorney Jessica R. Lubar on employment classification. The March 3, 2010 blog posting included an excerpt from Lubar's article "The IRS' New Employment Tax Initiative: What Does It Mean for Nonprofits?" as published by Nonprofit Conversation.

In the article, Lubar notes that the IRS is undertaking a study of employment tax compliance and will be focusing on three areas: worker classification, fringe benefits and officer compensation. The arts blog included Lubar's comments specifically on worker classification.

According to Lubar, a worker is considered an employee if the employer exercises the requisite amount of control over the employee under common-law principles. Over the years, the courts and the IRS have articulated certain factors that are considered in making that determination. The IRS organized the factors that are considered into three categories: (1) behavioral control - whether the business has a right to direct and control how the worker does the task for which the worker is hired; (2) financial control - whether the business has a right to control the business aspects of the worker's job; and (3) type of relationship.