employee

noun

em·​ploy·​ee im-ˌplȯ(i)-ˈē How to pronounce employee (audio)
(ˌ)em-;
im-ˈplȯ(i)-ˌē How to pronounce employee (audio)
em-
variants or less commonly employe
: one employed by another usually for wages or salary and in a position below the executive level

Examples of employee in a Sentence

A good boss listens to his employees. The company has more than 2,000 employees worldwide.
Recent Examples on the Web Two-thirds of IRS employees would face furloughs at the height of tax filing season. Jacob Bogage, Washington Post, 17 Mar. 2024 At 67%, employees are more trusting, but the gap for both groups has grown in the past few years. Nick Rockel, Fortune, 15 Mar. 2024 Traffic has improved now that shelter-in-place and social distancing measures have lifted, but not entirely. 1 of 4 Camille Dee, center, from the Santa Cruz Mountains, hugs Suzanne Merrick, an employee at Fibbar MaGees Irish Pub, at the pub in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Thursday, March 14, 2024. Stephanie Lam, The Mercury News, 15 Mar. 2024 The engineer loved to sing, and the idea for the machine came one morning at his electronics company in Tokyo after an employee heard his idle crooning and started teasing him. Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 15 Mar. 2024 Dartmouth Players: Members of the Dartmouth College men’s basketball team voted 13-2 in favor of forming a union, a development that could usher in a new phase of the movement for college athletes to be treated like employees. Rory Smith, New York Times, 15 Mar. 2024 Freedom of speech rights on both sides During the October oral arguments, the justices – who have no social media presence themselves − expressed a need to give guidance on what’s allowable to the nations millions of government employees. USA TODAY, 15 Mar. 2024 The letter calling on Google to drop its association with Mind the Tech was distributed via internal employee mailing lists dedicated to discussing company contracts that some workers consider unethical, as well as several mailing lists for Muslim, Arab, and anti-Zionist Google employees. Caroline Haskins, WIRED, 5 Mar. 2024 The future of California’s telework compliance office is murky as many state employees — for many, much to their dismay — begin returning to their offices this month, via Maya Miller. Andrew Sheeler, Sacramento Bee, 5 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'employee.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

employ entry 1 + -ee entry 1, perhaps after French employé

First Known Use

1822, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of employee was in 1822

Dictionary Entries Near employee

Cite this Entry

“Employee.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/employee. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

employee

noun
em·​ploy·​ee im-ˌplȯi-ˈē How to pronounce employee (audio) (ˌ)em- How to pronounce employee (audio)
im-ˈplȯi-ˌē,
em-
: one who works for another for wages or a salary

Legal Definition

employee

noun
em·​ploy·​ee
variants also employe
: a person usually below the executive level who is hired by another to perform a service especially for wages or salary and is under the other's control see also respondeat superior compare independent contractor

Note: In determining whether an individual is an employee, courts look at several factors, including the nature of the compensation paid, provision for employee benefits, whether the hired party is in business, tax treatment of the hired party, source of the equipment used, and location of the work. Statutes, such as workers' compensation acts and labor laws, usually include a definition of employee as it is used in the statute.

More from Merriam-Webster on employee

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