According to Passar's Exotic Dancer's Alliance, workers are considered employees unless an employer can demonstrate that they are instead independent contractors. A company's success or continuation should not depend on the services of contractors. Contractors set their own work hours. Contractors should be able to perform their services without the hiring company's facilities. Contractors can't be fired so long as they produce a result which meets the contract specifications.
Contractors usually have the right to hire others to do the actual work.
Contractors usually do not have a continuing relationship with the hiring company. If contractors work on the premises of the hiring company, it is not under that company's direction or supervision. The legal question is both complicated and detailed. Idell claims there are no fewer than 22 separate governmental agencies with conflicting criteria for determining worker status as employees or contractors. The Dancer's Alliance acknowledges at least six such agencies.