Independent Contractor Compliance Blog

There is nothing inherently wrong with out-of-state staffing companies wanting to do business in California.  Yet problems often arise if they fail to understand California’s strict independent contractor (IC) classification rules and environment.  Most other states have lenient rules to establish independent contractors compared to California.  Oftentimes staffing companies establish a successful system for IC [...]

If your company is audited by a tax agency and you appeal their decision, typically the case will then be decided by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ).  There are fewer strict requirements to be an ALJ than for a full-judicial judge in either a civil court or a federal court.  This is important to know [...]

According to The Wall Street Journal, (“The Rise of the Temp Lawyer”, June 15, 2011), a new trend in labor law suits has sprung up from an unlikely source: “itinerant contract attorneys.”  These are typically recent graduates, who move from job-to-job, getting paid by the hour, largely to review documents for law firms and corporate [...]

There are powerful economical, legal and political forces struggling to decide how prominent the use of independent contractors will be in the United States. The catalysts for this emerging battle are a sluggish world economy, increased international competition, and demographic shifts which are driving a talent shortage. Both sides are becoming more aggressive in the [...]

The universally known facts of today can become the lost, arcane knowledge of tomorrow. Memories fade and change over time. The common knowledge of today becomes lost as people move on and are involved in other projects. Sometimes records are even lost.  However, legal challenges, requiring detailed recall of facts and events, can occur several [...]

One of the most common misconceptions about worker classification that I encounter with clients is the belief that a written contract defining the relationship with a consultant as that of an independent contractor, responsible for his own taxes, will protect the company from misclassification challenges by either tax agencies, labor law disputes, or in civil [...]

Do you want to ensure protection against a misclassification challenge? In the eyes of an auditor, even if you made the proper call on the classification, if it isn’t properly documented it is open to interpretation. One of the ways Collabrus protects you and your high-end consultants is our proven system of documentation for your [...]

An Illinois real estate company thought it could call a janitor an employee for some work tasks but call him an independent contractor for other parts of his role. The Honorable Ruben Castillo, presiding judge in the Illinois Northern District Court had a different opinion (Bulaj v. Wilmette Real Estate & Mgmt. Co. Rexhep Bulaj). [...]

By now you have most likely heard of FedEx Ground’s decade long legal struggle to determine if their drivers are employees or independent contractors. The case began in California, as a class action law suit for overtime, expenses, benefits and other employee entitlements [Estrada v. FedEx Ground Package Sys. Inc., 64 Cal. Rptr. 3d 327 [...]

California’s employee classification law did not get changed in the most recent lawsuit brought by drivers against EGL and one of its subsidiaries. The workers alleged that they were EGL employees who had been misclassified as independent contractors and were deprived of benefits conferred upon them by the Labor Code. They sought money damages for: [...]