The most boring concert I ever went to was Genesis, in the Orange Bowl, Miami, 1987. The sound quality was terrible, and the band just didn’t seem that into it. My dad, who was there with me, was so bored he pulled out a newspaper. (Yes, that means he anticipated being this bored and brought a newspaper, but he was not a Genesis fan. He went for me, which is something a good dad just does.) [Also: Hi, Dad, I know you’re reading!]
Three years earlier, Phil Collins released Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now). The song did really well, but he did not play that song or any other solo songs at the 1987 concert. I know this because… wait for it… the internet! Yes, the set list from that March 1, 1987 show is posted here.
Segue please? Ah yes, take a look at me now.
One of the simplest ways to check your exposure to independent contractor misclassification claims is to perform a self-audit. (Take a look at me now!)
Get a printout of all 1099s your company issued last year. Is the list mostly LLCs? Or individual names? Focus on the individuals’ names, especially the ones who were paid the most. What kind of services did these individuals perform? Did they do something similar to what your W-2 employees do? Did they work side-by-side with your W-2 employees?
Have they been providing services for years? Did they used to be W-2 employees of your company?
Do they have contracts with your company? Are those contracts any good? Are they specific enough, and do they memorialize the good facts (those that support independent contractor status)?
It’s labor-intensive to do a comprehensive self-evaluation of your risk of independent contractor misclassification claims, but for rough back-of-the-envelope estimating, this can be a pretty useful exercise.
I hope it helps.
© 2020 Todd Lebowitz, posted on WhoIsMyEmployee.com, Exploring Issues of Independent Contractor Misclassification and Joint Employment. All rights reserved.
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