OPS Appointment versus Independent Contractor
The Internal Revenue Service provides guidelines that determine whether someone's services can be retained as an independent contractor or whether he or she must be hired as a UF employee. At UF, independent contractors are retained via service requisitions (Vendor Relations). If the employer/employee relationship, however, must be maintained--per IRS guidelines--then the person will be retained by hiring him or her as an OPS employee (Hire Job Action).
OPS jobs are at-will temporary appointments and do not come with benefits. Depending upon the nature of the assignment, they may be compensated via payroll or, if the work warrants, additional pay (a one time lump-sum payment). In either case, a hire job action as well as a payroll distribution will be required; if additional pay is to be used, the compensation should be left blank in the job action.
To review the IRS guidelines to determine whether someone should be "hired" as an independent contractor or as an OPS employee, please see UF’s Consulting and Professional Services Worksheet . Questions may be directed to Eric Davidson of University Tax Services at davidsoe@ufl.edu.
Visit the Training Web Tutorials section to view narrated video tutorials about:
- Service requisitions: "Service Requisitions"
- Hiring an OPS employee: "Hiring an Employee Without a Position and Without Using eRecruit"
- Appointing an OPS employee already hired at UF: "Assign Additional Job"
