What’s an ‘Employee’ in Delaware?

Glossary Check

A key to workers' compensation coverage is knowing who an "employee" is for applicable workers' compensation law. To find that information across the U.S., you can turn to Simply Research. Here's an example of what you'll find, with a focus on the State of Delaware.

Employee

“Employee” means every person in service of any corporation (private, public, municipal or quasi-public), association, firm or person, excepting those employees excluded by this subchapter, under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, or performing services for a valuable consideration, excluding spouse and minor children of a farm employer unless the spouse or minor child is a bona fide employee of a farm employer and is named in an endorsement to the farm employer’s contract of insurance, and excluding any person whose employment is casual and not in the regular course of the trade, business, profession or occupation of the employee's employer, and not including persons to whom articles or materials are furnished or repaired, or adopted for sale in the worker’s own home, or on the premises not under the control or management of the employer.

Casual Employment

“Casual employment,” means employment for not over 2 weeks or a total salary during the employment not to exceed $100 and, subject to the above, repairs and maintenance of employer’s regular business shall not be construed as casual employment.

Inmates

Inmates in the custody of the Department of Correction or inmates on work release who participate in the Prison Industries Program or other programs sponsored for inmates by the Department of Correction shall not be considered employees of the State or otherwise be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits unless said inmate is employed by an employer other than the State or a political subdivision thereof.

Sports Officials

Any person providing services as a sports official at a sports event in which the players are not compensated shall not be considered employees. “Sports officials” includes an umpire, referee, judge, scorekeeper, timekeeper, organizer, or other person who is a neutral participant in a sports event. This exclusion does not apply to workers’ compensation claims against schools, associations of schools or other organizations sponsoring a sports contest where the claimant is a sports official who is a regular employee of such school, association of schools, or other organization sponsoring the sports contest.

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