Contractor status check
Is your contractor really a contractor?
Answer eleven questions about how the work actually runs. You get a risk score from 0 to 100, the factors behind it and what would lower it. Free, no sign-up, nothing stored.
Check one contractor
Answer for how the work really happens, not what the contract says. Rules-based and worked out in your browser.
Includes the six questions Flamingo's in-app check asks, markedIn app
Who controls the work
Contractors agree on the outcome and run the how themselves.
Is it their own business
An independent business can delegate, sell to others and price its work.
How embedded they are
The more they look like part of your team, the more they look like staff.
Paperwork vs reality
What the contract says should match how the work runs.
0 of 11 answered. Answer at least 6 more to see a score.
Your result
0 of 11 answered
—/100
Answer at least half the questions to see a score.
The score updates as you go. Skip anything you don’t know, or pick “Not sure”.
By factor
- Who controls the work—
- Is it their own business—
- How embedded they are—
- Paperwork vs reality—
General guidance, not legal advice. Worker status depends on all the facts and local law.
In the Flamingo app
Inside Flamingo, the check goes further
Contract Management includes an AI misclassification check you can run on any contract. It looks at the contract itself, not just a questionnaire.
Reads the contract's details: hours and days from the work schedule, how they're paid, the job title and whether the work is remote.
Applies the worker's local rules, with in-depth guidance for 38 countries and general guidance everywhere else.
Returns Low, Medium or High, a score from 0 to 100 and the reasoning behind it.
See Contract Management →A risk signal, not legal advice.
What decides worker status
Countries use different rules, but they tend to look past the contract's label at the same few things. The check groups them into four.
- Who controls the work
- A contractor is hired for a result. If you set their hours, direct how tasks are done and supply their tools, the relationship looks like employment.
- Is it their own business
- Contractors usually price their own work, invoice for it, take other clients and can hand work to someone else. Without those, they depend on you like staff do.
- How embedded they are
- Ongoing work at the heart of your business, managing your people or receiving employee benefits all make someone part of the organisation rather than a supplier to it.
- Paperwork vs reality
- Full-time hours with no end date suggest a job, whatever the agreement says. Where paperwork and practice disagree, practice usually counts.
Questions about the check
Is this legal advice?
No. It's general guidance built from Flamingo's own weighting of common worker-status signals. Worker status depends on all the facts and the law where the worker lives, so for a borderline case talk to a local employment lawyer.
Do you store my answers?
No. The check runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you select is sent to Flamingo or saved, and starting over or leaving the page clears it.
How is the score worked out?
Each answer that points toward employment adds points, weighted by how strong a signal it is; employee benefits weigh the most. "Not sure" counts as half. The score is the share of possible points across the questions you answered, from 0 to 100: 0–33 is Low, 34–66 Medium and 67–100 High.
What's different in the app?
The in-app check is part of Contract Management and uses AI. It reads the contract's details, such as working hours from the schedule, pay structure and job title, applies the worker's local rules with in-depth guidance for 38 countries, and returns a risk level, a 0–100 score and its reasoning.
What if the worker is an employee already?
Then hire them as one. If they're in the Philippines or Colombia, Flamingo can employ them for you through Employer of Record. If you employ them yourself, Flamingo HR lets you onboard them and manage their documents, time off and work schedules in Flamingo.
Check the real contract in Flamingo
Contract Management includes the AI misclassification check, for $29 per contractor per month.