Independent Contractor Compliance Blog

I was recently home with the flu, and couldn’t sleep during the day, so I watched some daytime television. I saw many TV commercials encouraging workers-both IC’s and employees-to sue the companies that feed them.

If you spend your daytime hours working, you may not realize there are packs of predators stalking the underemployed, the unemployed, the disabled and the disgruntled on daytime television commercials. These predator TV commercials are airing during normal work hours when the rest of us are at the office. They are seeking individuals who are sitting at home, disgruntled about their life and careers, and wanting more money. The predators are encouraging these disgruntled people to file law suits against their former, and even current, employers or client companies for a long list of alleged damages.

A typical message may ask, “Do you believe you are a misclassified independent contractor? Call 1-800-blah-blah for a free consultation. You may be entitled to a large monetary settlement.”

I was shocked at the bold, aggressive nature of these solicitations-these attacks on American business. I saw several commercials by law firms who specialize in suing companies for misclassifying workers. These firms are telling daytime viewers that IC’s are potentially misclassified employees and may be entitled to bring actions against their client companies for overtime, business expenses, and a full range of fringe benefits.

They’re not just hunting disgruntled IC’s. There are also commercials that target part-time and contingent workers by asking:

• Does your employer take advantage of you?
• Have you been injured on the job?
• Are you disabled?
• Not paid for overtime?
• Are there others doing the same work and getting more money?
• Travel expenses not paid?
• Rest breaks denied?
• Being told to work before punching in or continue working after punching out?
• Call for a free consultation now.
• You may be entitled to a large cash settlement.
• Get what you deserve-don’t be a victim…
• Call this toll free number now!

These law firms are adding to the hostile IC compliance environment originally created by government.

For years the state and federal governments have been aggressively hunting businesses that utilize independent contractors and contingent workers. The government calls it “providing a level playing field.” Smelling an opportunity, predator law firms have now joined the hunt, greatly increasing the risk to businesses that employee any form of contingent worker-employee or IC.

Why are they successful?

Even the companies that may be correctly classifying their IC’s may not be able to prove it, because they failed to qualify and build a solid compliance file at the time they engaged the consultant. Remember these challenges are almost always about what occurred in the past-often years after the fact. Memories have faded…hiring managers have moved on…etc. These predator firms prevail because most companies are totally unprepared to provide the detail required to win a misclassification law suit.

The predators know most businesses have an Achilles’ heel-failure to properly qualify and document the status of the project and the consultant so they can prove they did it right, even years later.

Effective predators quietly and secretly stalk their prey. By the time they spring the attack it’s usually too late to mount a good defense.

Misclassification suits are filed everyday all across the United States. Most of these legal contests are unknown because they never go to public trial. Most are quietly settled for large cash payments made to the former consultants and to the predator attorneys who represented them. The loser is America’s business community.

Collabrus is in business to protect employers. We work every day to properly classify and pay the contingent workers that our clients need to get their vital work done.