Let’s say you want to give a real-world test to an applicant for employment, to see if she will fit in on your team. You don’t just want to give the applicant a hypothetical test, you want to put her to work for a shift or two to see how she really does. You don’t want to make it official, no paperwork or w-4s or paychecks, you just want to give the applicant a trial run. No problem, right? Well, no. If you take that course of action, and if the applicant gets hurt on the job, your workers compensation carrier may not recognize the person as an employee, and thus may not cover you if the worker sues in a personal injury lawsuit. On the other hand, your general liability carrier may recognize the worker as an employee, and deny coverage under its workers compensation exclusion. This leaves you holding the bag. Regarding California wage and hour law, it is likely that the Labor Commissioner, or the court, will deem the person as your employee, and therefore rule that you owe minimum wage for the hours worked, as well as a myriad of penalties based on, for example, your failure to pay wages, failure to keep proper employment documents, failure to provide (or at least document) meal and break times, etc. Along with that liability comes the obligation to pay 10% interest and the employee’s (not to mention your own) attorneys’ fees. And, if you do this a lot, watch out for a class action. Given all of this, it is better to stick with the good old fashioned interview coupled with a hypothetical skills test to make your most educated guess as to whether the job applicant is right for your team. And then, if you hire the applicant, have her sign an “at will” employment agreement so that if things don’t work out, you can terminate the new employee for any reason or no reason at all (as long as you don’t have an illegal reason – e.g., discrimination, harassment or retaliation). –Adam Treiger