Independent Contractors

Misclassification On April 22, 2019, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced she will establish a Payroll Fraud Enforcement Unit to investigate wage theft. More specifically, this Unit will also investigate the misclassification of workers as independent contractors and the nonpayment of overtime.

The Detroit News reported the AG’s new unit will focus primarily on the misclassification

Independent Contractor versus EmployeeA common question that business owners raise involves the use of employees versus independent contractors. The use and classification of an individual as an employee or independent contractor is one of the more complicated employment law issues that business owners will deal with and resolving such issues will depend upon circumstances.

Consider one test, the

Roll of the DiceThe Internal Revenue Service announced on 9/21/2011 that businesses that have improperly labelled their employees as independent contractors will be allowed to reclassify workers and make only a small payment to cover past payroll taxes.

The IRS is calling this program the Voluntary Worker Classification Settlement Program (the “Reclassification Program”). Under the IRS Reclassification Program