Employers often review IRS tax regulations to determine whether or not their workers should be classified as employees or independent contractors. Case law under the Fair Labor Standards Act tends to reflect that a worker is more likely to be considered an employee for purposes of overtime and minimum wage analysis. If you are a business or employee dealing with independent contractor – employee classification for the purpose of wage issues, contact Maginnis Law, PLLC for a free consultation regarding your issues at 919.526.0450 or submit a confidential new case inquiry here.
Employers often ask employees to sign independent contractor agreements and then to work exclusively for them for forty hours per week. For FLSA purposes, courts have looked at whether a worker is “economically dependent on the business to which he renders service or is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for himself.
Just because there is a document executed that says that the worker is a 1099 independent contractor rather than a W-2 employee of the business is not determinative. Courts look to the degree of control that the employer may have over the worker, the worker’s opportunities for profit or loss based upon their own work; the worker’s investment in the project; degree of skill; permanence of the relationship and the degree to which the services rendered are an integral part of the business.
If you are an employee, or group of employees, who have been incorrectly classified as independent contractors rather than employees, and you did not receive overtime or minimum wage pay as required by state law and federal laws like the FLSA, contact the employment litigation firm of Maginnis Law, PLLC. Maginnis Law is a Raleigh civil litigation firm handling overtime and other business wage disputes in Cary, Apex, Wake Forest, and all counties within the federal courts of North Carolina, including Franklin, Chatham, Orange, Johnston, Granville and others. Contact the firm at 919.526.0450 for a free initial consultation regarding your 1099/W2 wage dispute.
