Determining employee's hire date simply a matter of deductive reasoning

Q         One of our employees was originally hired on August 18, 2017, as an independent contractor. She completed her assignment on December 10, 2018, and was brought in as a temporary in-house staffing coordinator the next day. We eventually hired her as a permanent full-time employee on January 5, 2019. What would be considered her official date of hire?

A   If she was a true independent contractor, she wouldn't qualify as your “employee,” so August 18, 2017, would not be her hire date.

If you hired her as an employee beginning on December 11, 2018, that would be her hire date regardless of whether she was hired on a “temporary” basis. If, during her time as temporary in-house staffing coordinator, however, she was provided to you by an employment agency, then she wasn't actually your employee yet, and that isn't her hire date either.

If that was the case, then January 5, 2019—the date on which you hired her as a permanent, full-time employee—would be her official hire date.

Martin J. Regimbal is a shareholder with The Kullman Firm in Columbus, Mississippi. You can reach him at mjr@kullmanlaw.com.