CE Credits Online v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review

In CE Credits Online v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 946 A.2d 1162 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2008), CE Credits Online offered nationwide online professional development courses and hired moderators to review students' postings on their internet website. The Court concluded that such moderators were independent contractors rather than employees by considering that the moderators signed contracts designating them as independent contractors, they did not receive any employee fringe benefits, they did not participate in on-the-job-training, no taxes were deducted from their paychecks, no tools were supplied to them, including the computer used to provide the services, attendance at meetings was not required and remuneration was fixed at an hourly rate. CE Credits Online. The Court noted that the entire employment relationship must be examined in determining whether it is an employment or independent contractor relationship, despite whether the signed agreement indicated that the person was an independent contractor or whether just one factor, i.e., a fixed hourly rate, indicated that the person might be an employee. CE Credits Online, 946 A.2d at 1168. The Court noted that "control of the result only and not of the means of accomplishment did not transform an independent contractor relationship into an employer-employee relationship." CE Credits Online, 946 A.2d at 1169. The Court also noted that the moderators had employer imposed deadlines, were expected to issue cordial professional responses that employed correct spellings and adhered to the rules of grammar, must complete each job within a twenty-four hour time period and were not supervised on a day-to-day basis. Additionally, we recognized that "every job, whether performed by an employee or by an independent contractor, has parameters and expectations" and control is not a matter of "approving or directing the final work product so much as it is a matter of controlling the means of its accomplishment." Id.