Can an independent contractor have a company email address?

Just the same as a full-time or part-time employee, a company can legally assign a company email address to an independent contractor. 

If you assign an independent contractor an email address, it’s natural to have concerns about misclassification. On a standalone basis, there’s nothing to worry about if you decide to go down this path. 

However, it’s responsible to think about misclassification and the potential impact on your business. Misclassifying an employee as a contractor could result in both IRS penalties and legal authority penalties.

What about independent contractors in foreign countries?

To protect against trouble, review local and national regulations to ensure compliance. You can also rely on Oyster to hire and manage contractors within the limits of the law. If you’ve taken the proper steps to date, you may not have to take any action. But depending on the country, you may need to convert a contractor to an employee. 

If you’ve assigned a company email address to an independent contractor or plan to do so in the future, take all the guesswork and risk out of the process by implementing Oyster’s suite of contractor management tools.

And if you ever find yourself in a situation where you want to work with this contractor for the long haul, we can also help you compliantly transition them to full-time employment. (We call ourselves an all-in-one global employment platform for a reason!)

About Oyster

Oyster is a global employment platform designed to enable visionary HR leaders to find, hire, pay, manage, develop and take care of a thriving global workforce. It lets growing companies give valued international team members the experience they deserve, without the usual headaches and expense.

Oyster enables hiring anywhere in the world with reliable, compliant payroll, and great local benefits and perks.