Partner in LLP Is Not the LLP’s Employee

Partner in LLP Is Not the LLP’s Employee

           There is now pending before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals a suit that may turn on whether the relevant question, namely whether an LLP’s partner is an employee of the LLP, has already been determined by a state court. In that underlying judgment, the Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri, issued a judgment dated October 9 18, 2017 in the case Joseph S. Vaughn Kaenel v. Warren, Case No.: 15 AC-CC 00472. That judgment provided in part:

As an equity partner of Armstrong Teasdale, LLP, [Kaenel] is not a covered employee protected by the Missouri Human Rights Act.

            Whether a partner in an LLP, or a member in an LLC, can as well be an “employee” of the venture is a question that is contextual and as well highly fact dependent.  For tax purposes it is clear that they are not.  Here, in the context of employment discrimination law, we are told they are not. What is the rule in other cases needs to be addressed under the law governing that situation.