Independent Contractors

Companies cannot legally avoid paying workers overtime and minimum wages simply because they call them "independent contractors" or make them sign an independent contractor agreement. Our attorneys represent workers challenging such misclassification and asserting their right to fair wages.

Independent Contractor Details

True independent contractors are typically in business for themselves and work various jobs on a contract basis. Some companies hire workers, make them sign an independent contractor agreement, and call them independent contractors even though they are not. This often results in a failure to pay minimum wages and overtime premiums, and the denial of other workplace benefits, such as payroll taxes, worker’s compensation, and unemployment insurance. As a result, businesses that use contractors rather than traditional employees save a lot of money, to the detriment of workers. This also creates a disadvantage for competitor companies that classify their workers correctly and pay them as employees.

Your legal classification is dependent upon the weighing of several factors, such as the degree of control your employer exercises over your work, your investment in the business, your opportunity for profit or loss beyond your regular wage, your reliance on a specialized skill, the permanency of your working relationship, and the extent to which your work is integral to the employer’s business.

Our lawyers can help you determine whether you may have been improperly classified as an independent contractor, and whether you have a claim for additional overtime pay or minimum wages.

Examples of Potential Independent Contractor Misclassification

• A private duty nurse who provides in-home patient care through a home-care agency when the nurse receives a set hourly wage, receives agency training and direction, is subject to agency policies and procedures, works for a continuous duration of time rather than on a project basis, and does not supply her own equipment or materials.
• An oilfield worker paid on a day rate basis through a staffing agency, who primarily works long hours at the direction and under the supervision of the operating company.
• A delivery driver who is closely monitored, does not have employees working for them, and is not permitted to work elsewhere.

We invite you to contact us, and welcome your calls and emails.