Edelson PC is investigating the growing practice of California companies wrongfully classifying their employees as independent contractors. California has especially strong employee protection laws, including one that allows misclassified employees to bring representative and class action lawsuits against their current or former employers for up to $25,000 in civil penalties.

When companies misclassify their workers, employees can be cheated out of many benefits they deserve. Those benefits can include overtime pay, vacation pay, health insurance, employer-sponsored retirement plans, and expense reimbursements. Misclassified employees also do not receive unemployment and workers’ compensation benefits. And they are often illegally forced to pay the employer’s share of the employment tax.

Whether you are an independent contractor or an employee mostly comes down to how much control your employer has over you. You might be an employee, even if your company calls you an independent contractor, if:

• At the end of the year, you expected to be given a Form W-2, but were given a Form 1099.
• You have set work hours, work full time, and/or receive paychecks on a regularly scheduled basis.
• You work at your employer’s premises, and/or use your employer’s tools (e.g. computers, phones, vehicles, etc …).
• You are required to comply with your boss’s instructions about when, where, or how you are to do your work.
• You received training for your job from an employee.
• Your work is integrated into the company’s success, like other employees.

If these factors apply to you and a large group of your coworkers, or if you think that your employer is wrongfully classifying you and a large group of coworkers as independent contractors when you are in fact employees, please contact Edelson PC—on the form to the right of this page—to see if you might have legal rights under California Law.