Employment Assignment
In an association where a person is hired to ensure that the work of another individual is complete, it is essential to determine if the individual is an independent contractor or he or she is hired as an employee. This classification is essential for both the hired personnel and the employer. For both an employee and an independent contractor classification, there are associated benefits and disadvantages (Weil, 2015). In general, someone is regarded as an employee if they are responsible for performing services for the particular employer and thus the employer is entitled to controlling tasks responsibilities of the things that the employee should conduct and those that they should not with instructions on how to accomplish them. The right of the employer to fully control the general details on how services should be offered is the primary component of a relationship between an employee and the employer (Weil, 2015).
On the other hand, an independent contractor is a person who acts on an independent business, trade, and profession where they can opt to provide general services to the public. An independent contractor may be an inclusion of dentists, lawyers, doctors, contractors, accountant’s sub-contractors as well, as veterinarians (Weil, 2015). When these individuals are hired to offer services to any employer they are not accounted as employees generally because they are self-employed and their services offering is based on the fact that they are into contractual agreements with their employer to provide the designated services in exchange for salaries. Often independent contractors are hired based on their consulting capabilities to give their skills as well as knowledge in a particular project where the employer may not be able to accomplish alone. It is significant for an employer to accurately make a classification on whether the hired personnel are an independent contractor or an employee. This is because if an employer is involved in misclassification of a person as either an employee instead of an independent contractor or vice versa the employer can thus be held accountable for the violations of those laws that applies to employee’s protection. The laws, in general, are the inclusion of hour and wage laws, unemployment, workers compensation, Medicare, disability insurance and social security laws (Weil, 2015).
According to United States department of labor (2016), employers prefer to hire individuals as independent contractors rather than employees based on the involved expenses. This is because hiring an individual as an employee requires the employer to pay taxes in order to cover those employees that are under unemployment insurance and workers insurance compensation. These funds are thus expected to be paid by the employer rather than using the wages of the employees. In addition, this implies that the employer has to pay for the general payroll taxes. An employer is thus expected to withhold federal taxes from the employees and a section of Medicare and social security funds. The employee is adequately protected by the state laws which give them the ability to raise claims disputes against the employer. On the other hand, an independent contractor does not enjoy the protection. This means that the employer is not responsible for an independent contractor’s taxes payment. The independent contractor files the taxes on their own with the inclusion of social security taxes. However, they are awarded on the basis that the expenses that are incurred during work can be deducted from their total tax income but cannot raise a claim dispute against the employee. For this reason, employers opt to hire individuals are independent contractors because they do not have to incur additional expenses and no employment action can be brought against their operations (Weil, 2015).
Strippers can be described as employees and not independent contractors. However strippers are normally classified as independent contractors because they are not paid by the employers but the consumers (Risteau, 2016). The club acts as a location where the individuals can operate with the protection of the bouncer. Strippers are employees based on the fact that the employers conduct their tasks and how they perform their responsibilities. This is to a high degree which is the inclusion of their appearances, schedules, their dresses length, shoe type and the manner in which they are expected to interact with consumers during their performance. The employer is entitled to profits while the strippers are exposed to distinct risks. They are therefore more of employees than independent contractors because they are not hired for a particular expertise alone because the employer requires them to accomplish the tasks based on the directions they provide (Risteau, 2016).
In July this year Handy technologies corporation was sued by a worker in the particular organization through a claim that she should be classified as a corporation employee and not an independent contractor (Risteau, 2016). The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Massachusetts was a search of expenses reimbursement as well as handy workers minimum wages. The filed suit claims that the corporation hires employees to offer services to businesses as well as homes but the company classifies them as independent contractors. The claim says that the corporation is in complete control of all the work that is performed by the employees as well as the manner of accomplishing them. Through the misclassification handy violated different law codes which include the failure of compensating employees for the over period work that they provided to the corporation, the failure of paying employment minimum wage the failure to pay taxes and insurance payment for the employees. From this claim, it is clear that the personnel’s should be classified as employees (Risteau, 2016).
In May a California court established that a driver at San Francisco was an employee and not an independent contractor as a classified base. The lawsuit ruling stated that the employer was entitled to full employment expenses. According to the claim made by the employee the employer held full control of his operations as well as daily activities which implied that the working control lied on the employer. This was, therefore, a misclassification that requires uber Corporation to compensate and provide complete expenses payment to the employee. In another lawsuit amazon, the corporation was sued for a misclassification of delivery drivers as independent contractors. The claim stated that the drivers were expected to make goods delivery within two hours after the request had been made by the consumers. The drivers made a claim that the corporation classified as independent contractors while they should be classified as employees based on their job responsibilities (Risteau, 2016).
According to United States department of labor (2016), various laws that may help in explaining the classification of employees include workers compensation, social security, and workers compensation wage and unemployment laws. These laws demonstrate how workers should be classified based on their operations as well as who is in control. The major significant of operating as an independent contractor is based on the standard benefits that they are entitled to such as life and health. In regard to labor relations laws employees are protected against unlawful practices of bargaining. The tort liability act holds the employer liable for any negligence actions to their employees but this law is not responsible for independence contractor negligence. Misclassification of an employee is a critical issue to the employer, the employees, and the general economy. When employees are misclassified this means that they are denied essential benefits as well as protection. The consequences of the misclassification affect the employers in that the labor unions may work to influence the employees thus developing a deadlock between the two parties (Risteau, 2016).
In summary, the distinction between an employee and an independent contractor has not yet been established clearly because of statutory guidance absence and legislation nature which fails in embracing the transformations that are rapidly taking place in the employment field today. However, it can be noted that an independent contractor does not operate based on their requirements of the Job. And on the other hand, employees are necessitated to work for a period that is not stated where their conduct can be established as irregular. Appropriate classification of workers is essential as it benefits both parties. This, therefore, shows that a lack of an employer to provide working benefits does not directly classify the worker as an independent contractor. An employee is under the full control of their employer while the contractor works in providing his or her expertise and knowledge in exchange for salaries for a limited time period. The classification is based on performance control, working requires as well as the nature of the work.
References
Risteau, D. (2016). American payroll association basic guide to payroll 2016. Place of publication not identified: Wolters Kluwer Law & Bus.
United States department of labor. (2016). Wage and Hour Division (WHD). Misclassification Of Employees As Independent Contractors. Retrieved From: https://www.dol.gov/whd/workers/misclassification/
Weil D. (2015). Fair Labor Standards in Identification Of Employees Who Are Classified As Independent Contractors. Retrieved from https://www.dol.gov/whd/workers/misclassification/ai-2015_1.htm
