Why I'm quitting my "job". Contractor status abuse.

[hitman619]

Originally Posted by crashoran

Yes, because I believed them when they told me benefits would come eventually. It's a job in my field that fits exactly in-line with my degree. Why would I look for a new job on day one? That makes absolutely no sense at all. Stop with the personal attacks, they are not warranted here on City-Data.



I've built good relationships with my coworkers, why would I burn bridges?

Why are you Only responding to peoples negative comments in this thread?
No one has yet to personally attack you Relax Dude!

[LOL_Whut]

Originally Posted by Malloric

You keep posting that list over and over again MS. It was wrong the first time you posted it, and it will be wrong the last time you post it. I'm sure this is neither. It isn't magically correct this time either. The list is a guideline. It's used in a case-by-case review. A worker is not an employee if 1 of the 20 can be answered yes. In fact, for almost every legitimate contractor at least one of those questions WILL be answered yes.

1) Yes -- or not take the job
2) Personally, no. I know people that do.
3) Yes.
4) Yes.
5) Yes/No -- I hire assistants that work for me doing the work of the employer.
6) Yes.
7) No.
8) Not personally, I know people that do.
9) Yes.
10) No.
11) Yes.
12) No
13) Sometimes
14) A few, generally no.
15) Uh... Hard one to answer. I have a small capital investment and some of the companies are multi-national with millions invested, I would say that "Yes, I do not have a significant investment" is true.
16) No.
17) No.
18) Yes.
19) Yes.
20) Long-term liability,yes. Short-term liability, no.

I'm definitely a contractor. The IRS gave up on trying to say we weren't in the '70s or '80s (bit fuzzy, wasn't around then), but every few years one of the states is always throwing a fit and auditing everyone. It goes to court and they lose every time. They'd love for us to be employees. I write off a ton of expenses for travel, tools, software, professional subscriptions/services. They'd love to be able to tax us on that. They also try and collect sales tax on services and fine us for not doing that... Hell, they do both at the same time on the same audit. Go figure. We're both an employee and responsible for collecting the sales tax. We're completely hard-nosed on this. Part of our association dues is legal insurance for tax cases. Our association has a tax attorney on retainer because we know most people if faced with fighting the franchise tax board or settling out of court will settle.

Yes, it's a guideline. Yes, there are case-by-case reviews. That doesn't mean it's "wrong". It's provided by the IRS to the general public for a reason.

MS - thanks for posting that helpful list!

[DoctorRock25]

Originally Posted by jman07

Unions are for bums. By the time you put forth all the effort to join a union, you could have just found another job. WTF? Just find another job!

Agreed. Those only prolong the problem and nothing gets done. Save your energy and anger to do an extensive job search. There are better jobs out there.

[MrWillys]

Originally Posted by crashoran

I work at an advertising agency, and after 14 months it's obvious to me what's going on.

We all work in the office in our cubicles monday-friday 8 to 5. We are all paid hourly. We all have company emails, company business cards, attend all company meetings, have our bosses, and get our employee photos taken every year. We don't set our own hours and we don't set our wages. This is everybody's "full time job". Most people have been here at least a year.

ALMOST EVERYONE is a contractor here except for the execs and the higher-ups. I would say 75 out of 100 are contractors. We don't have any benefits, vacation time, sick time, health insurance, absolutely nothing. Yet we are all expected to act like good little employees.

When I started I was told I'd be brought on full time within a couple of months, and it never happened, I asked over and over and over again, and they always made excuses.

So I finally just put my foot down and put my 2 weeks notice in. I worked my ass off for this company and now realize it's all for nothing. I feel like an idiot for staying so long.

I don't have a clue how much money they save by not hiring actual employees, but it must be a ton. If anybody has some previous experience with something like this please let me know what your work situation was like.

Here's an old article I found that describes the issue
Contractor Traction: The Use and Abuse of Independent Contractor Status

This company should be reported to the DOL. This was a problem that has been addressed with a documented standard, and they're in violation of the law. This type of business model is a scam against all other honest working Americans and business.
See irs document x-26-07.pdf for more information.

[marilyn220]

Originally Posted by crashoran

Will they know it was me who reported them?

Who cares? It's not like they can deny it.

They're violating the rules of what an Independent Contractor is and know that they are. They're hoping you'll be too stupid or scared to do anything about it. Do like the previous poster said and file as an SS8. The state and feds will investigate. If they find in your favor, then the company will be heavily fined for violating state and fed employee tax laws.

[crashoran]

Funny. I visited the company's page on Glassdoor and a couple of other people writing reviews talk about how they only hire contractors. Glad it's not just me being irritated about it.