Cannon's campaign manager, Nathan Rathbun, said that while many of the campaign's part-time or occasional helpers are deemed consultants, full-time staff members are considered employees for whom payroll taxes are paid. "We're trying to move all of our employees over to full time," he said. "Our attorneys just tell us that is the way to go."

Rules and guidelines

The Internal Revenue Service and Utah State Tax Commission have many rules about when workers can be considered contractors. But IRS instructions say the basic rule is, "Generally, a worker who performs services for you is your employee if you have the right to control what will be done and how it will be done."

Hansen said that Hatch's campaign tells paid workers what it wants accomplished, "but generally we leave the details of how to do that up to them." He described most such workers as field directors, who oversee the campaign in different areas of the state. One paid worker handles computers and other technology for the campaign.

Other tests that the IRS and Tax Commission list to help determine if a worker is a contractor include:

• Whether they are reimbursed for expenses;

• Whether they have significant investment in equipment of their own;

• Whether they could make a profit or loss;

• Who has financial control of their work;

• Whether benefits are provided;

• How permanent the employment is.

Financial disclosure forms show that Hatch's aides often are reimbursed for such things as mileage, supplies and cell phones — something that would usually indicate they are employees instead of contractors.

Hatch's aides are paid set amounts for certain time periods, such as $2,500 a month for most of his regional directors — no matter how much time they put in. That is a sign of a contractor, while anyone paid per hour is usually clearly an employee.

Hatch's aides are provided no benefits such as health care. Doing so would clearly make them employees.

However, Matheson says his campaign also does not provide benefits for employees. "Most of them are still young. While I don't know this, I imagine that a number of them are still on their parents' health-care plans. Campaigns are often stretched for money. You save where you can," he said.

Temporary work

Hansen said Hatch's employees have contracts and also are considered temporary — signs of being a contractor. "The day the election is over, they are gone," he said — though many will have been employed for more than a year by that time. The same is also true of people that Matheson and Cannon consider employees.