Help Wanted: Compensation for independent contractors

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a number of factors are significant in determining whether someone is an independent contractor, said Irv Miljoner, who heads the Long Island office of the U.S. Labor Department. They include: the extent to which the services rendered are an integral part of the contractor's business, the permanency of the relationship and the nature and degree of control by the contractor.

The "creative professional exemption" from minimum wage and overtime hinges on whether the employee's primary duty involves work that requires "invention, imagination, originality or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor," states the Labor Department's fact sheet on the topic. "The requirements are generally met by actors, musicians, composers, soloists, etc."

So whether the show goes on legally without minimum wage -- or overtime -- depends on what elements best describe your friend's work relationship and the type of work she does.

SEE PHOTOSSee who got hired, promoted on LI

Federal regulations are clear about what constitutes work. Here is what the Labor Department says: "The workweek ordinarily includes all time during which an employee is necessarily required to be on the employer's premises, on duty or at a prescribed work place. Workday, in general, means the period between the time on any particular day when such employee commences his/her principal activity and the time on that day at which he/she ceases such principal activity. . . . "

For more information, call the U.S. Labor Department at 516-338-1890.

For more on the factors defining an independent contractor, go to http://1.usa.gov/10WVYK9

For more on how labor laws define "work," go to http://1.usa.gov/M6EBiy