Independent Contractor Compliance Blog - by Collabrus™

I recommend that you be honest-only you will know how you answered these questions.

• Do you classify consultants and temporary workers as IC’s because it saves money?

• Have you ever said to an applicant, something like, “We aren’t hiring employees, but we have an opening for an independent contractor?”

• Is it possible that any of your former IC’s will file for unemployment insurance?

• Is it possible an IC can become injured while working (car accident, carpel tunnel, stress, slip on the floor in the break room)?

• Have you ever “terminated” an IC, without completing the contract, for poor performance?

• Are you deciding who is an IC and who you put on the payroll based on budget considerations?

• Do you have “independent contractors” or “consultants” who have been providing services, or working on a series of projects job-after-job, year-after-year, but are not on the payroll?

• Do your IC’s report to a manager in your company on a day-to-day basis?

• Do any of your IC’s supervise your employees?

• Do your IC’s work exclusively for you and not for any other clients (such as your competitors)?

• Do your IC’s routinely attend regular employee meetings?

• Do you expect your IC’s to work full time on your project, with no time for any other business associations?

• Have you issued a Form 1099 and a Form W 2 to the same individual in the same tax year?

• Do you provide expense reimbursement for your IC’s?

• Do you provide a work location, supplies, or equipment for your IC’s?

• Do your IC’s work in your business, side-by-side with regular employees, doing similar duties, under similar circumstances?

• Are you just presuming you are safe with the classification of your independent contractors because it’s always been done that way and you haven’t gotten in trouble yet?

• Do you call them independent because it’s company policy to make all temporary workers Independent Contractors?

• Do you believe you can adequately protect your company against misclassification without engaging an expert?

If you answered yes to ANY of these questions your company is probably at a high risk level of being involved in a misclassification conflict.  These include government enforcement agencies, civil lawsuits, or both.

In my experience most companies do not have a reliable system in place to insure they are properly classifying and handling their contingent workers and IC’s. When they are challenged, they find out the hard way they were not prepared or properly protected.  By then, it is too late.

Preparation starts now before the challenge.

Call now and get the help and protection your company needs.