Employees and Independent Contractors and Day Laborers … Oh My!

UPDATES: Ayala v. Antelope Valley Newspapers Inc., ___ Cal. ___ (Jul. 1, 2014)–California Supreme Court clarifies the test for independent contractor status; Ruiz v. Affinity Logistics Corp., 2014 BL 166620, No. 12-56589 (9th Cir. Jun. 16, 2014)–Ninth Circuit found “overwhelming evidence” that the defendant controlled details of the delivery drivers’ work and, accordingly, the drivers were employees not independent contractors under California law, citing S.G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Department of Industrial Relations, 769 P.2d 399 (Cal. 1989).

The California Contractors State License Board (CSLB) recently issued an Industry Bulletin reminding contractors of the importance of properly classifying workers as employees or independent contractors to avoid being subject to penalties and fines. Helpful information can also be found on the California Department of Industrial Relations’ website, including, for example, a publication on independent contractors versus employees.

The CSLB reminds contractors that the California Employment Development Department (EDD) provides free classroom style and online training to help contractors to learn their obligations under the state employer reporting laws. Its Industry Bulletin lists some of the EDD tax seminars offered and includes links to EDD’s website for these seminars:

• Federal/State Basic Payroll Tax Seminar
• Quick Course in Federal and State Payroll Taxes
• State Labor Law and Payroll Tax Seminar
• Employee or Independent Contractor Seminar
• State Payroll Tax Workshop
• How to Manage Unemployment Insurance Costs Tax Seminar
• Audits and Appeals Payroll Tax Seminar
• Employment Taxes and the Nonprofit Organization Seminar
• Household Employers Payroll Tax Seminar
• State Basic Payroll Tax Seminar
• Avoid Errors on Payroll Tax Reporting Seminar

It also notes that the Department of Industrial Relations and Internal Revenue Service offer State Labor Law and Federal Payroll Tax presentations at some of the EDD seminars.

Additional Source: U.S. Department of Labor, $10.2M awarded to fund worker misclassification detection, enforcement activities in 19 state unemployment insurance programs (Sep. 15, 2014);

Photo: JoshBerglund19, Wax Wizard of Oz, Taken Aug. 5, 2007 – Creative Commons