The worker is your employee if you can control not only what work is done, but how it is done That's the only sentence in there that actually defines what an e

The worker is your employee if you can control not only what work is done, but how it is done That's the only sentence in there that actually defines what an employee is, and I fail to see how someone mowing your lawn fits the requirement of dictating "how work is to be done". A guy who mows your yard every other week -- most likely along with a host of other yards in the area -- is most certainly not an employee. Sure, he could try to make a case if he were injured, but no normal-thinking human is going to interpret "provides occasional service" as "employee". and when John is out of town and offers for his dead-beat friend Jacob to mow your lawn that week and you decline, then John is your employee. Preferring the services of one person or company over another has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the definition of employee.