As a business owner, you shoulder a lot of responsibility. This is particularly true if you operate in the software-as-a-service economy and decide to hire contractors to work for you. It is critical that you understand the liabilities, risks and legal problems that may arise during the implementation of independent contractor jobs.
The state of Massachusetts pays close attention to whether businesses are misclassifying employees as contractors. If authorities find that you are violating state and federal law in this area, you may face serious penalties, including detrimental fines. For this reason, hiring an attorney is generally a wise idea as you embark on the hiring process.
An attorney can easily assess your company’s model along with your company’s classification system to see if your business is in compliance with government regulations. What makes dealing with independent contractors so tricky is that no one rule exists for determining if workers are employees or independent contractors. Instead, you must take a holistic look at your relationships with these parties, including how long you have had relationships with them and the skills levels required for them to complete their job tasks.
It’s important to understand the legal requirements for independent contractors, a term that has evolved in the century we have been doing business. Since 1918, the attorneys of Seder & Chandler have excelled at facing complicated and fast-moving legal issues, from complex corporate law, commercial real estate law, estate planning, to acting as counsel for law matters business and personal. Contact us today to learn how our combination of traditional commitments and adaptivity has given us a legacy of a 100 years.