Yeah it’s a fairly common exploit that you can’t really get away with long term because of stuff like this. If your employee still thinks they’re an employee, they will assume they have the rights of an employee, and the DOL and IRS might be inclined to agree.

International gig workers are generally safe from misclassification. The companies they work through usually handle most of the paperwork and give you a subcontractor agreement. As far as the government is concerned they’re the same category as temps, which is fine, but obviously you still should avoid calling them “employee” on a public social media page just to make your company sound more successful than it is.