I Work Alone: Limiting Liability Concerning Independent Contractor Status

This course explains how we ascertain the difference between circumstances in which a service provider is an employee (and a principal is an employer) and circumstances in which the service provider is an independent contractor (and the principal is a client).

Why Should You Attend:

Converse to the high overhead when employing an employee, when contracting with independent contractors, a principal’s overhead costs are relatively low. That’s because when contracting with an independent contractor, the principal is not responsible for providing the “Laundry List” of protections it must provide in an employer-employee relationship.

Many principals, especially small business owners, are tempted to erroneously dub a service provider as an independent contractor in an effort to avoid paying for and managing the Laundry List of legal protections afforded to employees.

But, as we will discuss, misclassifying an employee as an independent contractor- especially to avoid providing the Laundry List of legal protections to a service provider- could have costly and dire ramifications.

Areas Covered in the Webinar:

• What an independent contractor is
• The advantages of contracting with an independent contractor
• That protection of service providers is a matter of public policy
• How to determine whether a service provider is an independent contractor or an employee
• Statutory presumptions of employment status
• The ramifications of misclassifying an employee as an independent contractor
• Reporting requirements when engaging an independent contractor
• Liability for conduct toward and by an independent contractor
• Indemnification of staffing agencies
• Best practices

Who Will Benefit:

• ALL California employers
• supervisors
• Human Resources staff and executives
• payroll staff and executives
• General Counsel