Hi Everyone: I know that a number of you teach online for more than one college or university. I am just curious as to how you are being classified by other schools - I don't need or care to know which schools. This is just preliminary information gathering. Background: We have always paid our adjuncts as independent contractors, issuing 1099s at the end of the year. In Colorado we are now being told that so long as we provide a study guide, we are deemed to have control over the instructor making them employees, not independent contractors. It isn't really an issue for us since none of our teachers live in Colorado so Colorado has no jurisdiction. However, if one state is doing it, can others be far behind? Probably not. Ultimately this will be researched by the attorneys, but for now I am collecting anecdotal evidence and appreciate your comments. Best, Mary
For one school I get 1099'd for another it is a W-2. For both schools I sign a contract for each course taught or developed. John
Thanks, John. So one takes the taxes out and the other doesn't. Are they both in the same state? Mary
No, they are different states. The W-2 is from the school of my state of residence (North Carolina). I have done adjunct work for about 5 schools and only one does the 1099. John
Mary - I've taught adjunct for several schools - some on-ground, some on-line. The whole issue of sub-contractors versus employees is an interesting tax question. As I understand it, the IRS has generally frowned on contractors - unless the individual is truly independent. I've always been treated as an employee. In most cases I control course content - but at some schools there has been a standard syllabus. One school I have taught at, however, gives faculty the option of being employees or contractors. However, they require sub-contractors to have $1 million in insurance. I would suspect that DL instructors would be the most likely to be treated as sub-contractors since they work at home and are under less direct control. Regards - Andy
Re: Adjuncts: Employees or Independent Hi Mary, I am a proud graduate of ISIM University. I am currently a Ph.D. student at Capella University. I taught as an adjunct instructor at Kaplan College and was paid as an independent contractor. The following is taken from the IRS website. Who is an independent contractor? A general rule is that you, the payer, have the right to control or direct only the result of the work done by an independent contractor, and not the means and methods of accomplishing the result. Who is an employee? If you can control what will be done and how it will be done the individual should be treated as an employee. Hope this helps. Mike, Ph.D. Student (Completing comps.), Capella University.
Re: Adjuncts: Employees or Independent. Sorry, I meant to say I was paid as an employee at Kaplan College and not as an independent contractor. It's been a long day and I guess I'm a bit tired. Mike.
I'm treated as an independent contractor by Excelsior (NY). I think the main requirement is control over time, not providing a study guide or common syllabus: when I was adjuncting at brick and mortar schools, I had to be physically in the classroom at set times to meet with the class; as an independent contractor, I have complete control over when I do the work. I suppose if the MLS program had me do online chats at set times, I would lose the independent contractor status.
Thanks everyone - the responses are, so far at least, what I expected, reflecting lots of variation! The Colorado law says that faculty are not free from control and direction in the performance of their duties because a) we give the learning objectives that have to be achieved and b) we have performance objectives regarding how fast they must respond to students. I have copies of the IRS guidelines and will have our attorney review them against our agreement, but it will be interesting to see what evolves in the future! Thanks again everyone and Mike, thank you for your nice comment about ISIM/Aspen. Congratulations on going for your doctorate. We've had several students go on to doctoral studies and I am happy to say all have done well. Best, Mary
