Legislators have tweaked the new Employee Fair Classification Act to fix the presumption that anyone receiving remuneration for services is an employee. The definition also extended to any “individual employed on a casual and sporadic basis”.

Independent research consultant Vera Cooley went before the State House Finance Committee last month to argue that the new law would negatively impact on research companies who offer incentives to respondents and who mange panels of respondents.

The committee amended the bill before passing it on 28 February. It removed references to “remuneration” and to exempt from the definition of an “employee” any “individual employed on a casual and sporadic basis”.

Howard Fienberg, the director of government affairs for the Marketing Research Association, said the change protects research companies from having to treat respondents as employees because even active and relatively frequent panelists would still likely be considered to be “employed on a casual and sporadic basis”.

“This clarification from the Washington State legislature will save the research profession and the state government time and money,” he added.