Legally Speaking: What tasks are personal assistants permitted to perform
(Oct. 13, 2014, OAR Buzz)
Published Ohio REALTORS Legal Services Group
What Unlicensed Personal Assistants May Do and How Their Services May be Engaged
The explosion of information technology that has occurred in the first half of the 1990′s has created marketing and communications capacity that has real estate brokers and salespeople busier than ever. The need for brokers and salespeople to be in almost constant contact with existing and prospective clients, as well as with other brokers and salespeople, leaves little time, if any, for details and support services that must be taken care of in order for business to be maintained and successfully transacted.
To fill the need that has arisen, it is becoming more and more popular among brokers and salespeople to use personal assistants to take care of details which take time that could better be used by the broker or salesperson on activities that are more directly related to boosting sales volume. In many cases, personal assistants are licensed real estate agents who are authorized to perform the same functions as any other licensed real estate agent. It is at least equally common, however, for a personal assistant to be unlicensed, which raises a number of questions about which tasks and functions the personal assistant may perform, and which ones he or she may not. The purpose of this analysis is to provide a general description of the personal assistant, identify the functions the unlicensed personal assistant may and may not perform under Ohio law, and describe the employment or contractual arrangements that may exist between a broker or salesperson and a personal assistant.
Index
- What is a personal assistant?
- What may an unlicensed personal assistant do?
- Should the unlicensed personal assistant be the licensee's employee?
- Do's and don'ts for unlicensed personal assistants
- Employee or independent contractor?
Sample Contracts:
- Licensed Personal Assistant Compensation Agreement / Brokerage as Employer
- Licensed Personal Assistant Compensation Agreement/ Salesperson as Employer
- Independent Contractor Licensed Personal Assistant Agreement
- Independent Contractor Unlicensed Personal Assistant Agreement
Reprinted from Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service Publication 937, Cat. No. 63126N 'Employment Taxes and Information Returns.'