Employer Question: Temporary Employment = Contract Labor?

These are definitely not the same thing.  The question posed is this:  An employer is hiring a person in a low-level position who was laid off from his previous high-paying job and the new employer knows that this person is going to be looking for permanent employment elsewhere.  If that person is probably only going to be working for the company temporarily, can the employer keep things easy and pay that person as contract labor?  The answer is a definite NO.  There is no period of time of employment that enters into the decision of contractor versus employee.  Regardless of the amount of time that person works for you, if he meets the definition of an employee, then he should be set up as such.