Hiring Integrated: Unpacking Common Law Marriage and Its Implications in Oklahoma

Working with the right contractor can make all the difference for your IT project. But making sure that you are working with the right contractor is not always easy. The legal rules governing the terms of employment, or contracting, can be convoluted and complex.

To make sure you always have the right contractors on hand for your IT projects, consider keeping in mind one of the most common legal issues that projects can turn on: making sure you are not misclassifying who is and is not an employee, as well as a large spectrum of other issues that can arise from agency relationships.

The challenge is especially true with IT contractors, where the lines between contract employment and formal employment can frequently be blurred by the fluid roles and responsibilities found in IT design, development, implementation, and maintenance.

The best solution to avoiding this and other problems is to make sure you understand the relevant legal issues for any given project. Nowhere is this more important than the state level, since employment relationships are traditionally governed by the state.

For example, a recent article discussed one helpful definition that can come in handy when defining the scope of your project: common law marriage. “Common Law Marriage is a personal relationship that arises from an agreement between the parties to permanently live together as a married couple without a formal marriage ceremony. The parties must satisfy the legal requirements of the state in which the couple lives to establish a common-law marriage. Consequently, the parties’ actions and conduct must provide clear evidence of their intent to be legally married.”

So, what is Oklahoma’s main concern with regard to finding if a marriage has occurred? Oklahoma law essentially requires two parties to agree to be a married couple, then act in such a way that it appears they are married. Simply living together is not enough – in other states, it may be – but the key element is the formation of the agreement of marriage. This is rather similar to standard business contracts, which also require agreement and assent from all parties involved.

The article discussed a recent Oklahoma court ruling which determined whether two parties, Ms. Hargrove and Mr. Smith, were legally married. There was no actual marriage certificate, but the two had lived together for almost a decade, referring to themselves as “husband” and “wife.” This was enough to indicate the relationship, the court determined, and the man in the story was ordered to pay half of the woman’s rent.

For anyone who has ever worked on a project where unexpected expenses, such as this, can quickly spiral out of control, this definition of marriage is an important one to hold onto.

Understanding what is common law marriage in Oklahoma, and other legal concepts that may apply to your industry, are something that must be kept in mind for the sake of compliance and meeting the technical definition in the eyes of the law. But by maintaining a knowledge of nuances in employment and contracting laws, you may also make sure that you are not subject to unintended employment-related consequences for you and your project.

Maintaining compliant hiring practices ensures that you are protected from a wide range of employment-related legal consequences, from having to make payments you did not think you had to make to having a larger-than-expected tax liability. If you would like to read more about common law marriage in the Oklahoma state, check out the article here.

Oklahoma state law also requires a range of additional disclosure notices, including ones describing what a prospective employee is, and is not, entitled to in Oklahoma. This is somewhat similar to the legal issue of providing invoices, contracts and other notices to clients and customers, which is required in many industries as well.

Making sure you understand these legal notice requirements will ensure you are going above and beyond compliance, but are very unlikely to violate any legal requirements. It is important to keep in mind that there is, of course, a risk that you may be mislabeling employee relationships. This goes for anything that would be considered “contracting,” as well as employee positions, as well.

Remember that there are both formal and informal marriages, and that in Oklahoma, there really is no difference in the eyes of the law. Ordinarily, if two people make an agreement to be consider otherwise unrelated people a married couple, the law will usually accept that. As a result, a misclassification of a personal relationship can lead to legal action and increased liability in the event of separation or divorce.

If you are an IT contractor working for a business or for the government, the fact that you have a personal relationship with the individuals you are working with can be a problem if that relationship has not been properly defined with respect to the terms of your service and working arrangement.

If you are worried that the same problem might arise in your own industry, it is best to avoid two potential problems: misclassifying the nature of employment and misclassifying the relationship itself.

Make sure you know all of the legal risks that come with either type of situation before you agree to anything.

As always, your best defense is to be in the know – get started learning about common law marriage in Oklahoma by checking out this article here.