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GLOSSARY TERM

Statutory employee

A worker treated as an employee for workers' compensation because a statute extends responsibility beyond the worker's immediate common-law employer.

Workers' compensation statutes can deem a worker to be within an upstream employer's responsibility even though that business did not directly hire the worker. This often appears in contractor-subcontractor rules designed to keep covered work from falling through gaps.

Virginia explains that subcontractor employees can count in a contractor's coverage analysis and that the statutory-employer law can make the contractor responsible for compensation. The exact term and reach vary by jurisdiction, and this workers' compensation usage is distinct from tax-law uses of “statutory employee.”

OFFICIAL SOURCE

Where this definition comes from

Glossary entries are anchored to a state agency, statute, board, commission, or recognized workers' compensation authority rather than a generalized summary.

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