Comments on: Workers Compensation Insurance: Do You Need It?

By: Steve O'Donnell

Steve O'Donnell — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 11:03:36 +0000

There is also a bill kicking around Congress that would make worker misclassification a federal offense with some pretty hefty penalties attached to it. http://tinyurl.com/23kt84u

By: Nevin Spade

Nevin Spade — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:27:02 +0000

Steve, thanks for the great link. It demonstrates perfectly why business owners need to be educated regarding this topic.

By: Steve O'Donnell

Steve O'Donnell — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:57:21 +0000

The IRS’s classification is one thing, but what you really want to look at is state law. Granted, the employee/independent contractor tests are pretty similar across the country, but they’re not necessarily the same. There are lots of cases on this issue since, as you probably can imagine, it comes up a lot. Here is one instructive PA opinion from a few weeks ago: http://tinyurl.com/2akt72q

By: Nevin Spade

Nevin Spade — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 16:25:54 +0000

Joe, thanks for the comment. You are right that properly classifying a worker as an employee or subcontractor is all in the details. Thus, it is important to review the entire IRS publication 1779 (IRS Test) along with the other links provided in the blog post to fully understand if you have an employee or subcontractor.

By: Joe Heidler

Joe Heidler — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:33:32 +0000

Nevin,
I think that your post is a little misleading. After reviewing the headlines under IRS test, I feel that I could get by with subcontractors, but I know that this is not the case. The details are in the links that you provide. If someone doesn’t look deeply enough, they may get in trouble.

We run into this with competitors all of the time. A lot of people try to get away without adequately insuring their workers. In today’s competitive environment, it is going to take a lot of education or some hard earned lessons to get this to change.

Joe Heidler