Founder
For employers, hiring a workforce of independent contractors rather than employees is a profitable shortcut. For workers, it often means losing out on critical rights, protections and benefits.
What Do Employees Get That Independent Contractors Do Not?
Employees are entitled to important rights under state and federal law. These include:
- Minimum wage and overtime protections
- Workers’ compensation coverage if you are injured on the job
- Unemployment benefits if you lose your job (called re-employment assistance benefits in Florida)
- Employer contributions to Social Security and Medicare
- Legal protections against harassment, discrimination and retaliation
- Legal rights to accommodations for disabilities, religion and pregnancy
- Job protected leave
Independent contractors are not entitled to any of those protections.
Why Do Employers Misclassify Workers?
The short answer: money. Employers profit by misclassifying workers. For example:
- They avoid paying their share of payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare).
- They do not have to provide health insurance, paid time off, or other benefits given to employees.
- They avoid liability for unlawful termination, harassment, discrimination orretaliation,because these laws only protect employees.
- They avoid compliance with wage and hour laws, like minimum wage and overtime.
Why Should Workers Care?
For workers, being misclassified can mean losing thousands of dollars annually in unpaid wages, uncollected benefits, and out-of-pocket expenses. It can also limit access to legal remedies when something goes wrong at work.
Many independent contractors think the trade-off is worth the loss of legal protections because they value the flexibility, autonomy, and control over their work schedule, clients, and business decisions. However, in many cases, workers do not recognize how one-sided the arrangement really is until they are injured, terminated, or shorted on pay, and find themselves without the legal protections employees rely on.
What Is Worker Misclassification?
Worker misclassification happens when an employer labels someone as an independent contractor, but under the law, the worker is treated as an employee. Just calling someone an “independent contractor” does not make it legally so, even if the worker agrees to the designation. What matters is the actual working relationship, and specifically, how much control the company exercises and whether the worker is truly in business for themselves.
Misclassification benefits employers. Companies and those who run them know this, which is why business owners and their lobbyists actively support laws and regulations that make it easier to classify workers as “independent contractors” rather than “employees.”
However, a worker who has been misclassified as an independent contractor may be entitled to the same rights and benefits they would have had if they were an employee, and may also be entitled to back pay, unpaid overtime, and other compensation.
Know Your Worth and Your Rights.
Misclassification is a tactic that shifts risk and cost onto workers, while enriching business owners. You deserve better, and the law may be on your side.
If you suspect you are being misclassified, contact our office to schedule a consultation. We can help you understand your rights and take steps to recover what you are owed.
