Your Employer may Owe you Money if you have been Misclassified as an Independent Contractors in California
California’s labor board, the Division of Standard Labor Enforcement (DLSE), as well as the federal government Department of Labor, (DOL) are very concerned with the number of people being misclassified as independent contractors.
The reason this is such a big deal boils down to money the government can tax. But the reason it’s important for employees to know the difference is because of the money the government will want to tax. Sounds redundant, I know.
Basically, as an independent contractor you are not an employee at all, what so ever. Instead, you are viewed as a business owner offering a service to another business. Therefore, you are responsible for ALL of the taxes, social security, medical, workers compensation, etc. This means that you will be paying more of your earnings to the government than you would if you were an actual employee; because as an actual employee the employer is required to pay a portion of these on the employee’s behalf.
So it stands to reason that employers can save quite a bit of money if they can hire independent contractors instead of actual employees. The problem is that in order to be hired as an independent contractor you have to fit specific criteria. The main idea behind the following criteria is that you have to be, well, independent; independent of the company who is contracting you to do the work.
• You should not have an immediate supervisor or manager
• You should not have to wear the other company’s logo or uniform
• You should be using all of your own equipment and vehicles
• You should not be given a daily or weekly schedule, but deadlines for completion are ok.
• You should be able to perform the work when or where you chose.
If you have to be financially responsible for yourself you should also be independently responsible for yourself.
Labor law is complex; if you have any questions regarding your employment it is recommended that you contact a California labor law attorney who can help you understand your rights and in many cases will review your situation without charge.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Iakov Filimonov