How to move a contractor onto an EOR
Move a contractor onto an EOR by checking the past working relationship, confirming the new employment route, agreeing the employee’s compensation and rights, and coordinating the last invoice with the first payroll. A new employment contract is a forward-looking step; obtain a separate assessment of any historical classification exposure.
Start with the relationship, not the job label
Record who controls working hours and methods, whether substitution is possible, who provides equipment, how payment works and whether the person serves other clients. Acas distinguishes employment-rights status from tax status; the IRS uses a separate federal employment-tax test. These examples show why one universal contractor test is unsuitable. Ask the adviser to state the jurisdiction, period and test used.
Compare take-home pay and employer cost separately
An invoice amount is not a net salary promise. Ask for a gross-to-net employment illustration and a separate employer-cost schedule using the worker’s location, tax status, benefits and variable pay. Record which contractor expenses cease, which become reimbursable and whether any tax is recoverable. Agree the gross salary only after the employee understands the change.
Write a continuity schedule
Ask the incoming employer to document how it will treat prior service, probation, leave, IP created before the move, confidentiality and unpaid amounts. Distinguish rights required by local law from additional contractual recognition. Do not manufacture an employment start date to make the paperwork appear continuous.
Sequence the change
Use a dated plan: route and work-right checks; employment terms agreed; contractor closing obligations agreed; registrations and bank details ready; last invoice approved; first payslip checked. Treat this as a planning sequence, not a universal legal deadline. Preserve evidence of what was paid under each relationship.
Worked decision
A contractor invoices 5,000 units a month and asks to retain that take-home amount. Do not simply enter 5,000 as gross salary. Obtain a payroll illustration at the proposed gross salary, identify deductions and benefits, then price the employer charges and EOR fee. If a net guarantee is required, ask who funds future tax or deduction changes. The example supplies a decision method, not a country tax calculation.
Questions before you act
Does conversion erase earlier misclassification risk?
Do not assume it does. Commission a separate assessment of the historic facts and allocate any remediation, tax, benefit or settlement work explicitly.
Must previous contractor service count as employee service?
That requires a local assessment of the earlier relationship and any proposed recognition. Get the legal conclusion and any enhanced contractual promise recorded separately.
Can we keep the same duties and manager?
Describe the actual duties and supervision to the EOR before approval. Continuity of the job does not itself prove that the new employment or staffing structure is permitted.
Country-specific decisions
- Can a Kenyan contractor keep the same take-home pay after moving to an EOR?
- Does moving a US contractor to an EOR solve past classification risk?
- Can we use French portage salarial for a closely supervised junior role?
- Can we move an overseas-company worker onto a Singapore EOR work pass?
- Can an EOR employ a developer doing our core business work in Mexico?
- What should we add to a Mexican contractor-conversion budget beyond monthly salary?
Sources
Planning guidance with scoped country examples. Provider documentation describes its own processes.
- Acas: employment status — Types of employment status
- IRS: independent contractor or employee — Common-law evidence categories
- Oyster: creating EOR employment — Employment record, remote work costs and benefits