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§40-1-210. [Previous] [Next]

§40-1-210.


§40-1-210.
   
   EMPLOYMENT.
   
   "Employment" means:
   
   (1) Any service, including service in interstate commerce, performed
   by:
   
   (a) any officer of a corporation; or
   
   (b) any individual who, under the usual common-law rules applicable in
   determining the employer-employee relationship, has the status of an
   employee.
   
   (2) (a) any service, including service in interstate commerce,
   performed by any individual other than an individual who is an
   employee under paragraph (1) of this section who performs services for
   remuneration for any person:
   
   (i) as an agent-driver or commission-driver engaged in distributing
   meat products, vegetable products, fruit products, bakery products,
   beverages other than milk, or laundry or dry cleaning services, for
   his or her principal; or
   
   (ii) as a traveling or city salesperson, other than as an agent-driver
   or commission-driver, engaged upon a full-time basis in the
   solicitation on behalf of, and the transmission to, his or her
   principal, except for sideline sales activities on behalf of some
   other person, of orders from wholesalers, retailers, contractors, or
   operators of hotels, restaurants or other similar establishments for
   merchandise for resale or supplies for use in their business
   operations;
   
   (b) provided, the term "employment" shall include services described
   in divisions (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (a) of this paragraph if:
   
   (i) the contract of service contemplates that substantially all of the
   services are to be performed personally by such individual;
   
   (ii) the individual does not have a substantial investment in
   facilities used in connection with the performance of the services,
   other than in facilities for transportation; and
   
   (iii) the services are not in the nature of a single transaction that
   is not part of a continuing relationship with the person for whom the
   services are performed.
   
   (3) Service performed in the employ of this state or any of its
   instrumentalities or any political subdivision thereof or any of its
   instrumentalities or any instrumentality of more than one of the
   foregoing or any instrumentality of any of the foregoing and one or
   more other states or political subdivisions; provided, that such
   service is excluded from "employment" as defined in the Federal
   Unemployment Tax Act, 26 U.S.C., Section 3306(c)(7), and is not
   excluded from "employment" under paragraph (7) of this section.
   
   (4) Service performed by an individual in the employ of a community
   chest, fund, foundation or corporation, organized and operated
   exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public
   safety, literary or educational purposes, or for the prevention of
   cruelty to children or animals, no part of the net earnings of which
   inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual, no
   substantial part of the activities of which is carrying on propaganda,
   or otherwise attempting to influence legislation and which does not
   participate in, or intervene in, including the publishing or
   distributing of statements, any political campaign on behalf of any
   candidate for public office; provided that such organization had four
   or more individuals in employment for some portion of a day in each of
   twenty (20) different weeks, whether or not such weeks were
   consecutive, within either the calendar year or preceding calendar
   year, regardless of whether they were employed at the same moment of
   time.
   
   (5) Service performed by an individual in agricultural labor as
   defined in subparagraph (a) of paragraph (15) of this section when:
   
   (a) such service is performed for a person who:
   
   (i) during any calendar quarter in either the calendar year or the
   preceding calendar year, paid remuneration in cash of Twenty Thousand
   Dollars ($20,000.00) or more to individuals employed in agricultural
   labor; or
   
   (ii) for some portion of a day in each of twenty (20) different
   calendar weeks, whether or not such weeks were consecutive, in either
   the calendar year or the preceding calendar year, employed in
   agricultural labor ten or more individuals, regardless of whether they
   were employed at the same moment of time.
   
   (b) for the purposes of this paragraph any individual who is a member
   of a crew furnished by a crew leader to perform service in
   agricultural labor for any other person shall be treated as an
   employee of such crew leader:
   
   (i) if such crew leader holds a valid certificate of registration
   under the Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act of 1963, Public Law
   95-562, 29 U.S.C., Sections 1801 through 1872; or substantially all
   the members of such crew operate or maintain tractors, mechanized
   harvesting or crop-dusting equipment, or any other mechanized
   equipment, which is provided by such crew leader; and
   
   (ii) if such individual is not an employee of such other person within
   the meaning of paragraph (1) of this section or subparagraph (d) of
   this paragraph.
   
   (c) for the purposes of this paragraph, in the case of any individual
   who is furnished by a crew leader to perform service in agricultural
   labor for any other person and who is not treated as an employee of
   such crew leader under subparagraph (b) of this paragraph:
   
   (i) such other person and not the crew leader shall be treated as the
   employer of such individual; and
   
   (ii) such other person shall be treated as having paid cash
   remuneration to such individual in an amount equal to the amount of
   cash remuneration paid to such individual by the crew leader, either
   on his or her own behalf or on behalf of such other person, for the
   service in agricultural labor performed for such other person.
   
   (d) for the purposes of this paragraph, the term "crew leader" means
   an individual who:
   
   (i) furnishes individuals to perform service in agricultural labor for
   any other person;
   
   (ii) pays, either on his or her own behalf or on behalf of such other
   person, the individuals so furnished by the crew leader for the
   service in agricultural labor performed by them; and
   
   (iii) has not entered into a written agreement with such other person
   (farm operator) under which such individual is designated as an
   employee of such other person.
   
   (6) The term "employment" shall include domestic service in a private
   home, local college club or local chapter of a college fraternity or
   sorority performed for a person who paid cash remuneration of One
   Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or more in the calendar year or the
   preceding calendar year to individuals employed in such domestic
   service in any calendar quarter.
   
   (7) For the purposes of paragraphs (3) and (4) of this section the
   term "employment" does not apply to service performed:
   
   (a) in the employ of:
   
   (i) a church or convention or association of churches; or
   
   (ii) an organization which is operated primarily for religious
   purposes and which is operated, supervised, controlled, or principally
   supported by a church or convention or association of churches;
   
   (b) by a duly ordained, commissioned or licensed minister of a church
   in the exercise of his or her ministry or by a member of a religious
   order in the exercise of duties required by such order;
   
   (c) in the employ of a governmental entity referred to in paragraph
   (3) of this section if such service is performed by an individual in
   the exercise of duties:
   
   (i) as an elected official;
   
   (ii) as a member of a legislative body, or a member of the judiciary
   of a state or political subdivision;
   
   (iii) as a member of the State National Guard or Air National Guard;
   
   (iv) as an employee serving on a temporary basis in case of fire,
   storm, snow, earthquake, flood or similar emergency;
   
   (v) in a position which, under or pursuant to the laws of this state,
   is designated as a major nontenured policymaking or advisory position,
   or a policymaking or advisory position the performance of the duties
   of which ordinarily does not require more than eight (8) hours per
   week;
   
   (vi) as an election official or election worker if the amount of
   remuneration received by the individual during the calendar year for
   services as an election official or election worker is less than One
   Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00);
   
   (d) by an individual receiving rehabilitation or remunerative work
   while participating or enrolled in a program in a facility that:
   
   (i) conducts a program of rehabilitation for individuals whose earning
   capacity is impaired by age, physical or mental deficiency, or injury;
   or
   
   (ii) conducts a program that provides remunerative work for
   individuals who, because of their impaired mental or physical capacity
   cannot be readily absorbed into the competitive labor market;
   
   (e) as part of an unemployment work-relief or work-training program
   assisted or financed in whole or in part by any federal agency or an
   agency of a state or political subdivision thereof, by an individual
   receiving such work-relief or work-training; or
   
   (f) by an inmate of a custodial or penal institution.
   
   (8) The term "employment" shall include the service of an individual
   who is a citizen of the United States, performed outside the United
   States, except in Canada, in the employ of an American employer other
   than service which is deemed "employment" under the provisions of
   paragraphs (11) or (12) of this section or the parallel provisions of
   another state's law, if:
   
   (a) the employer's principal place of business in the United States is
   located in this state;
   
   (b) the employer has no place of business in the United States, but:
   
   (i) the employer is an individual who is a resident of this state;
   
   (ii) the employer is a corporation which is organized under the laws
   of this state; or
   
   (iii) the employer is a partnership or a trust and the number of the
   partners or trustees who are residents of this state is greater than
   the number who are residents of any one other state;
   
   (c) none of the criteria of subparagraphs (a) and (b) of this
   paragraph are met but the employer has elected coverage in this state
   or, the employer having failed to elect coverage in any state, the
   individual has filed a claim for benefits, based on such service,
   under the law of this state;
   
   (d) an "American employer", for purposes of this subsection, means a
   person who is:
   
   (i) an individual who is a resident of the United States;
   
   (ii) a partnership if two-thirds or more of the partners are residents
   of the United States;
   
   (iii) a trust, if all of the trustees are residents of the United
   States; or
   
   (iv) a corporation organized under the laws of the United States or of
   any state; and
   
   (e) the term "United States", for the purposes of this subsection,
   includes the states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of
   Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
   
   (9) Notwithstanding paragraph (11) of this section, all service
   performed by an officer or member of the crew of an American vessel on
   or in connection with such vessel, if the operating office, from which
   the operations of such vessel operating on navigable waters within, or
   within and without, the United States are ordinarily and regularly
   supervised, managed, directed and controlled is within this state.
   
   (10) Notwithstanding any other provisions of the Employment Security
   Act of 1980, Section 1-101 et seq. of this title, "employment":
   
   (a) includes any service with respect to which a tax is required to be
   paid under any federal law imposing a tax against which credit may be
   taken for contributions required to be paid into a state unemployment
   fund; and
   
   (b) includes any service which is required to be "employment" for full
   tax credit to be allowed against the tax imposed by the Federal
   Unemployment Tax Act of 1954, Public Law 591, Chapter 736, as amended,
   26 U.S.C., Section 3301 et seq.
   
   (11) The term "employment" shall include an individual's entire
   service, performed within or both within and without this state if:
   
   (a) the service is localized in this state; or
   
   (b) the service is not localized in any state but some of the service
   is performed in this state and:
   
   (i) the individual's base of operations, or, if there is no base of
   operations, then the place from which the individual's employment is
   directed or controlled is in this state; or
   
   (ii) the individual's base of operations or place from which such
   service is directed or controlled is not in any state in which some
   part of the service is performed but the individual's residence is in
   this state.
   
   (12) (a) Services covered by an election pursuant to Section 3-203 of
   this title; and
   
   (b) services covered by an arrangement pursuant to Section 4-701 et
   seq. of this title between the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission
   and the agency charged with the administration of any other state or
   federal unemployment compensation law, pursuant to which all services
   performed by an individual for an employing unit are deemed to be
   performed entirely within this state, shall be deemed to be employment
   if the Commission has approved an election of the employing unit for
   whom such services are performed, pursuant to which the entire service
   of such individual during the period covered by such election is
   deemed to be insured work.
   
   (13) Service shall be deemed to be localized within a state if:
   
   (a) the service is performed entirely within such state; or
   
   (b) the service is performed both within and without such state, but
   the service performed without such state is incidental to the
   individual's service within the state; for example, is temporary or
   transitory in nature or consists of isolated transactions.
   
   (14) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, services
   performed by an individual for wages or under any contract of hire
   shall be deemed to be employment subject to the Employment Security
   Act of 1980 unless and until it is shown to the satisfaction of the
   Commission that:
   
   (a) such individual has been and will continue to be free from control
   or direction over the performance of such services, both under the
   contract of hire and in fact; and
   
   (b) such individual is customarily engaged in an independently
   established trade, occupation, profession, or business; or
   
   (c) such service is outside the usual course of the business for which
   such service is performed and that such service is performed outside
   of all the places of business of the enterprise for which such service
   is performed.
   
   (15) The term "employment" shall not include:
   
   (a) services performed by an individual in agricultural labor, except
   as provided under paragraph (5) of this section. For purposes of this
   subparagraph, the term "agricultural labor" means remunerated service
   performed in agricultural labor as defined in the Federal Unemployment
   Tax Act, 26 U.S.C., Section 3306(k);
   
   (b) domestic service, except as provided under paragraph (6) of this
   section, in a private home, local college club, or local chapter of a
   college fraternity or sorority;
   
   (c) service performed by an individual in the employ of his or her
   son, daughter, or spouse, and service performed by a child under the
   age of twenty-one (21) in the employ of his or her father or mother,
   or both father and mother;
   
   (d) service performed in the employ of the United States government or
   an instrumentality of the United States exempt under the Constitution
   of the United States from the contributions imposed by the Employment
   Security Act of 1980, except that to the extent that the Congress of
   the United States shall permit states to require any instrumentalities
   of the United States to make payments into an unemployment fund under
   a state unemployment compensation law, all of the provisions of the
   Employment Security Act of 1980 shall be applicable to such
   instrumentalities, and to services performed for such
   instrumentalities, in the same manner, to the same extent, and on the
   same terms as to all other employers, employing units, individuals and
   services; provided that if this state shall not be certified for any
   year by the Secretary of Labor of the United States under the Federal
   Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C., Section 3304(c), the payments
   required of such instrumentalities with respect to such year shall be
   refunded by the Commission from the fund in the same manner and within
   the same period as is provided in Section 3-304 of this title with
   respect to contributions erroneously collected;
   
   (e) service with respect to which unemployment compensation is payable
   under an unemployment compensation system established by an act of
   Congress;
   
   (f) service performed in the employ of a foreign government, including
   service as a consul or other officer or employee or a nondiplomatic
   representative;
   
   (g) service performed in the employ of an instrumentality wholly owned
   by a foreign government:
   
   (i) if the service is of a character similar to that performed in
   foreign countries by employees of the United States government or of
   an instrumentality thereof, and
   
   (ii) if the Commission finds that the United States Secretary of State
   has certified to the United States Secretary of the Treasury that the
   foreign government, with respect to whose instrumentality exemption is
   claimed, grants an equivalent exemption with respect to similar
   service performed in the foreign country by employees of the United
   States government and of instrumentalities thereof;
   
   (h) service covered by an arrangement between the Commission and the
   agency charged with the administration of any other state or federal
   unemployment compensation law pursuant to which all services performed
   by an individual for an employing unit during the period covered by
   such employing unit's duly approved election, are deemed to be
   performed entirely within the jurisdiction of such other state or
   federal agency;
   
   (i) service performed as a student nurse in the employ of a hospital
   or a nurses' training school by an individual who is enrolled and is
   regularly attending classes in a nurses' training school chartered or
   approved pursuant to state law; and service performed as an intern in
   the employ of a hospital by an individual who has completed a
   four-year course in a medical school chartered or approved pursuant to
   state law;
   
   (j) service performed by an individual for a person, firm,
   association, trust, partnership or corporation as an insurance agent,
   or as an insurance solicitor or as a licensed real estate agent, if
   all such service performed by such individual for such person is
   performed for remuneration solely by way of commissions or fees;
   
   (k) service performed by an individual under the age of eighteen (18)
   in the delivery and distribution of newspapers or shopping news, not
   including delivery or distribution to any point for subsequent
   delivery or distribution, and services performed by an individual
   eighteen (18) years of age or older who meets the definition of a
   "direct seller" as defined in 26 U.S.C., Section 3508(b)(2), that
   states in pertinent part:
   
   (i) the individual must be engaged in the delivery or distribution of
   newspapers or shopping news, including any services directly related
   to such trade or business,
   
   (ii) substantially all the remuneration, whether or not paid in cash,
   for the performance of the services described in clause (i) of this
   subdivision is directly related to sales or other output, including
   the performance of services, rather than the number of hours worked,
   and
   
   (iii) the services performed by the individual are performed pursuant
   to a written contract between such person and the person for whom the
   services are performed and such contract provides that the person will
   not be treated as an employee with respect to such services;
   
   (l) service performed in the employ of a school, college or
   university, if the service is performed:
   
   (i) by a student who is enrolled and is regularly attending classes at
   the school, college, or university, or
   
   (ii) by the spouse of the student, if the spouse is advised, at the
   time the spouse commences to perform the service, that:
   
   (I) the employment of the spouse to perform the service is provided
   under a program to provide financial assistance to the student by the
   school, college, or university, and
   
   (II) the employment will not be covered by any program of unemployment
   insurance;
   
   (m) service performed by an individual who is enrolled at a nonprofit
   or public educational institution which normally maintains a regular
   faculty and curriculum and normally has a regularly organized body of
   students in attendance at the place where its educational activities
   are carried on as a student in a full-time program, taken for credit
   at the institution, which combines academic instruction with work
   experience, if the service is an integral part of the program, and the
   institution has so certified to the employer, except that this
   provision shall not apply to service performed in a program
   established for or on behalf of an employer or group of employers;
   
   (n) service performed in the employ of a hospital, if the service is
   performed by a patient of the hospital;
   
   (o) services performed by cooperative extension personnel holding
   federal appointments employed by state institutions of higher
   learning;
   
   (p) earnings of employees being paid by state warrants who are
   presently covered by the Federal Unemployment Compensation Act, 5
   U.S.C., Section 8501 et seq., by virtue of their federal status;
   
   (q) cosmetology services performed by an individual in a beauty shop,
   as defined by Section 199.1 of Title 59 of the Oklahoma Statutes,
   pursuant to an agreement whereby the owner of the beauty shop leases
   or rents facilities for cosmetology to such individual;
   
   (r) barbering services performed by an individual in a barber shop, as
   defined by Section 61.5 of Title 59 of the Oklahoma Statutes, pursuant
   to an agreement whereby the owner of the barber shop leases or rents
   facilities for barbering to such individual;
   
   (s) in-home services performed in a medical care program such as the
   nontechnical medical care program, or social services program, as
   certified and approved by the Department of Human Services or the
   Federal Health Care Financing Administration or as a participant in a
   work or training program administered by the Department of Human
   Services;
   
   (t) riding services performed by a jockey and services performed by a
   trainer of race horses in an approved race licensed by the Oklahoma
   Horse Racing Commission;
   
   (u) service performed by an individual whose remuneration consists
   solely of commissions, overrides, bonuses, and differentials related
   to sales or other output derived from in-person sales to, or
   solicitation of orders from, ultimate consumers primarily in the home,
   or otherwise than in a permanent retail establishment;
   
   (v) service performed by a person, commonly referred to as
   "owner-operator", who owns or leases a truck-tractor or truck for
   hire, provided the owner-operator actually operates the truck-tractor
   or truck and, further, that the entity contracting with the
   owner-operator is not the lessor of the truck-tractor or truck;
   
   (w) services performed as a chopper of cotton who weeds or thins
   cotton crops by hand or hoe. This subsection shall be interpreted and
   applied consistently with the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, 26 U.S.C.,
   Sections 3304(a)(6)(A) and 3306(k);
   
   (x) services performed for a corporation by an individual who owns one
   hundred percent (100%) of the stock of the corporation, provided that
   the corporation is not a nonprofit corporation as provided for in the
   Employment Security Act of 1980; or
   
   (y) services performed for a private for-profit person or entity by an
   individual as a landman:
   
   (i) if the individual is engaged primarily in negotiating for the
   acquisition or divestiture of mineral rights or negotiating business
   agreements that provide for the exploration for or development of
   minerals,
   
   (ii) if substantially all remuneration paid in cash or otherwise for
   the performance of the services is directly related to the completion
   by the individual of the specific tasks contracted for rather than to
   the number of hours worked by the individual, and
   
   (iii) if the services performed by the individual are performed under
   a written contract between the individual and the person for whom the
   services are performed; provided that the individual is to be treated
   as an independent contractor and not as an employee with respect to
   the services provided under the contract.
   

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