People who work with a company as a contract worker, independent worker or 1099 employee are not eligible for workers comp if they are injured while fulfilling the duties of their contract. Some companies, however, do not correctly classify their employees. They might do this in order to avoid paying payroll taxes or workers comp premiums, or they might misclassify employees simply out of ignorance. If you are a contract worker who was injured on the job, your relationship with the company will likely become more important than the definition of your employment when it comes to a worker's comp case.
Independent Workers Work Independently
Contract workers fulfill the terms of their contracts independently. This means that they are not directed on how to complete the job by the owner of the company for which they work. If they are required to be on-site at particular times or fulfill the job according to a hiring company's direction, they are behaving more like an employee than a contract worker.
Independent Workers Use Their Own Equipment
A contract worker typically has all the tools he or she needs to fulfill a contract with a hiring company. If the company for which the contractor works provides the equipment needed to fulfill the job, such as a computer or tools, that contract worker is behaving like an employee.
Independent Workers Are Paid by the Job
A contract worker will receive payment from the company for which they work per job. For example, if the contract worker is hired to complete a project, he or she will be paid when that project is complete. If a contract worker receives hourly wages or is paid by salary, then that worker is behaving like an employee.
Independent Workers Work for Many Different Companies
A contract worker typically works on many different projects for many different companies at once. If one company is providing a contract worker with ongoing work, then the company is treating that contract worker like an employee.
A contract worker might have an agreement in place with a company that defines the relationship as that between a hiring company and a contract worker. Even if a contract is in place, if the contract worker behaves like an employee and is treated like an employee, the contract might be disregarded. A judge considering a worker's comp case will give greater weight to the behavior of a worker and the hiring company than to the way they define their relationship.
To learn more about worker's compensation and contract workers, reach out to a company like Prediletto, Halpin, Scharnikow & Nelson, P.S.
Hello, I'm Christina Miller. Have you ever been fascinated with why the law works the way it does? Ever since I was in junior high, I had an intense interest in anything related to our legal system, whether it be a crime drama on television, a judge show or a legal case covered on the news. I followed it all. As time progressed, I began learning about how the actual legal system worked and not just the fictionalized version of our legal system. This has lead me to start writing my own blog posts about law that I hope will help others.