Is it legal for an employer to allow an independent contractor to write, or take part in writing, an employee review?

Ann Kiernan replies:

It depends. If the employer’s normal practice is to get 360° feedback from everybody who interacts with a particular employee—co-workers, vendors, clients, other departments, etc.—then getting feedback from a contractor who works with that person seems OK. But if the manager is allowing a contractor to actually write the review, it looks to me like the contractor should really be an employee.

Posted 06-27-2019

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