employee or independent contractor?

fisher93 · May 2003

I work in the construction industry and my boss treats us like employees, but pays us like independent contractors to get out of paying taxes, overtime, travel time, and even deducts workers comp. from our pay checks without our concent. Can he do this? All of us that work there only work for this employer and he tells us where to go, in what order to go to the jobs, gives out employee memos, and deducts money if we are late to work. I no longer work for this company, but I know he will continue to do this to other people. What can I do?

MS HR · May 2003

call local dept. of labor. should be listed under government in local phone director.
doesn't sound to me as if you are "contractor"

fisher93 · May 2003

I already have contacted to Dept. of Labor. We were no help at all. They gave me the number to FLSA and they gave me the number to Workers Comp. Claims and they gave me the number to Wage and Hour Division, and so on and so forth. I don't know what to do now.

jimlegal · May 2003

Agree, contact the U.S. Department of Labor and your individual state's office of labor. Let the labor folks, decide.

Down_the_Middle · May 2003

I wrote an article once on "Employers who don't deserve to be in business" Boy, what a classic example this would've been......... The advice on contacting your local DOL (wage & hour division) is correct. If the local folks don't seem interested, I'd go to the regional office and if necessary, Washington. Businesses like this(if all is true about its behavior) is why we have 40+ state and federal employment laws to deal with.

Balloonman · May 2003

You are employees, based on every standard that I can think of. He is breaking a number of laws also. As construction he may also be breaking some workers' compensation laws. I would contact the Workers' comp fraud unit also as it sounds like he is in violation there also.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

employee or independent contractor?

Comments