If the employer hires, supervises, and pays others on the same job as the worker, the employer is usually exercising control over all the workers on the job. Accordingly, all the workers are employees. If the worker hires, supervises, and pays other workers at the direction of the employer, the worker may be acting as an employee in the capacity of a foreman for, or representative of, the employer.

A worker sometimes hires, supervises, and pays other workers on the job. If this is done under a contract that provides that the worker furnish labor and materials and is responsible only for the attainment of a result, the worker is an independent contractor.

Social Security Handbook, Chapter 808: Who hires, supervises, and pays assistants?