In J-King Excavating, the defendant employer appealed a decision finding that the applicant was an employee. Mr. Ellis was the sole owner of J-King Excavating. In May 2022, he interviewed the applicant, hired her, and instructed her of her job duties. The applicant was provided with a truck, a company debit card, and tools required for her job. She was paid on an hourly basis without payroll or tax deductions. Mr. Ellis testified that he did not have employees, only independent contractors, and that he had an open-ended relationship with the applicant, but the job that she was hurt by was her last job with him. The defendants also argued that the applicant provided dusting and cleaning duties that were incidental to J-King’s business.
Applying the control-factor test, the ALJ found that the ability to hire and fire the applicant, the supplying of a truck, debit card, and tools, the instructing of the applicant’s job duties by Mr. Ellis, and the open-ended relationship between them were all factors that were in favor of an employer-employee relationship. The ALJ also found the dusting and cleaning described as incidental by the defendants was actually required by law to control dust at excavation sites and to clean dirt off equipment before transporting it. These were found to be considered duties performed in the usual and regular course of J-King’s business.
Mr. Ellis appealed this decision to the Arizona Court of Appeals (the Court) arguing that the control factor was applied inappropriately but did not offer any substantially different arguments than what was raised during the hearing process. The Court determined that the ALJ had applied the control-factor test correctly. It cited testimony from Mr. Ellis that the applicant was hurt on a Sunday when the business was closed. However, she was working at the request of Mr. Ellis for a project starting on Monday. This showed that Mr. Ellis had control over the applicant’s work hours, which further supported the employer-employee relationship.
J-King Excavating v. Indus. Comm'n of Arizona, No. 1 CA-IC-24-0025, 2025 WL 656346 (Ariz. Ct. App. Feb. 27, 2025).
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