Montana Code Annotated 2001

MCA ContentsSearchPart Contents


     15-30-256. Employment defined and exclusions from definition of employment. (1) As used in this part "employment", subject to the provisions of subsection (2), means the service by an employee for an employer.
     (2) The term "employment" does not include:
     (a) household and domestic service in a private home, local college club, or local chapter of a college fraternity or sorority, except as provided in 15-30-201(4)(c);
     (b) service performed by a dependent, as defined in 26 U.S.C. 152, of a sole proprietor for whom an exemption may be claimed by the employer under the Internal Revenue Code or service performed by a sole proprietor's spouse for whom an exemption based on marital status may be claimed by the sole proprietor pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 7703;
     (c) service performed as a freelance correspondent or newspaper carrier if the person performing the service, or a parent or guardian of the person performing the service in the case of a minor, has previously acknowledged or acknowledges in writing that the person performing the service and the service are not covered for unemployment insurance purposes. As used in this subsection:
     (i) "freelance correspondent" is a person who submits articles or photographs for publication and is paid by the article or by the photograph; and
     (ii) "newspaper carrier" means a person who provides a newspaper with the service of delivering newspapers singly or in bundles. The term does not include an employee of the paper who, incidentally to the employee's main duties, carries or delivers papers.
     (d) service performed as a licensed real estate broker or salesperson under Title 37, chapter 51;
     (e) service performed by a cosmetologist who is licensed under Title 37, chapter 31, or a barber who is licensed under Title 37, chapter 30, and:
     (i) who has acknowledged in writing that the cosmetologist or barber working under contract is not covered by unemployment insurance and workers' compensation;
     (ii) who contracts with a cosmetology salon, as defined in 37-31-101, or a barbershop, as defined in 37-30-101, which contract must show that the cosmetologist or barber:
     (A) is free from all control and direction of the owner in the contract;
     (B) receives payment for service from individual clientele; and
     (C) leases, rents, or furnishes all of the cosmetologist's or barber's own equipment, skills, or knowledge; and
     (iii) whose contract gives rise to an action for breach of contract in the event of contract termination. The existence of a single license for the cosmetology salon or barbershop may not be construed as a lack of freedom from control or direction under this subsection.
     (f) casual labor not in the course of an employer's trade or business performed in any calendar quarter, unless the cash remuneration paid for the service is $50 or more and the service is performed by an individual who is regularly employed by the employer to perform the service. "Regularly employed" means that the service is performed during at least 24 days in the same quarter.
     (g) service performed by sole proprietors, working members of a partnership or a limited liability partnership, or members of a member-managed limited liability company that has filed articles of organization with the secretary of state;
     (h) service performed for the installation of floor coverings if the installer:
     (i) bids or negotiates a contract price based upon work performed by the yard or by the job;
     (ii) is paid upon completion of an agreed-upon portion of the job or after the job is completed;
     (iii) may perform service for anyone without limitation;
     (iv) may accept or reject any job;
     (v) furnishes substantially all tools and equipment necessary to provide the service; and
     (vi) works under a written contract that:
     (A) gives rise to a breach of contract action if the installer or any other party fails to perform the contract obligations;
     (B) states that the installer is not covered by unemployment insurance; and
     (C) requires the installer to provide a current workers' compensation policy or to obtain an exemption from workers' compensation requirements;
     (i) service performed by a direct seller as defined by 26 U.S.C. 3508;
     (j) service performed by a petroleum land professional. As used in this subsection, "petroleum land professional" means a person who:
     (i) is engaged primarily in negotiating for the acquisition or divestiture of mineral rights or in negotiating a business agreement for the exploration or development of minerals;
     (ii) is paid for service that is directly related to the completion of a contracted specific task rather than on an hourly wage basis; and
     (iii) performs all service as an independent contractor pursuant to a written contract.
     (k) service performed by an ordained, commissioned, or licensed minister of a church in the exercise of the church's ministry or by a member of a religious order in the exercise of duties required by the order;
     (l) service performed by an individual receiving rehabilitation or remunerative work in a facility conducted for the purpose of carrying out a program of rehabilitation for those individuals whose earning capacity is impaired by age or physical or mental deficiency or injury or providing remunerative work for individuals who, because of impaired physical or mental capacity, cannot be readily absorbed in the competitive labor market;
     (m) service performed as part of an unemployment work-relief or work-training program assisted or financed in whole or in part by a federal agency or any agency of a state or political subdivision of the state by an individual receiving work relief or work training;
     (n) service performed by an inmate of a state prison or other state correctional or custodial institution;
     (o) service by an individual who is sentenced to perform court-ordered community service or similar work;
     (p) service performed for aid or sustenance only;
     (q) active service as members of the regular armed forces of the United States, as defined in 10 U.S.C. 101(33);
     (r) agricultural labor; or
     (s) service performed by an independent contractor.

     History: En. Sec. 5, Ch. 491, L. 1997.

Previous SectionHelpNext Section
Provided by Montana Legislative Services