Business Education Session-Classifying Workers

Are you Classifying your Workers Properly?

State Representative Kenneth Gordon, Kelly Pappas, JD of the
Foster Sullivan Insurance Group and Lisa Healey of Paychex,  will lead this interactive workshop on the MA Independent Contractor statute: defining the criteria for classifying an employee as an  'Independent Contractor',  presenting the implications of non-compliance and outlining the pending State legislation.

Does your business do any of the following?

• Hire Consultants or Advisors
• Hire Freelancers
• Compensate any individual with the use of a 1099 contractor status
• Considering compensating an individual in one of the three ways above

If so, your business may face serious financial implications, including:

• Tax liabilities
• Overtime pay and other wage and hour claims against the employer, with the possibility of treble damages and attorneys' fees
• Additional Worker's Compensation Insurance premium
• Fines up to $25,000 or imprisonment for up to one year for a first offense, and fines up to $50,000 or imprisonment for up to two years for subsequent violations.
• Liability for on the job injuries 

With limited exception, Massachusetts law requires that all companies that hire individuals to perform services, treat that individual as a W-2 employee UNLESS:
 
(1) The person is free from the control and direction of the employer in connection with the performance of the service, (2) the service is performed outside the usual course of business of the employer; AND (3) the individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation profession or business of the same nature of the service provided.
 
The second prong of this test is the one that trips up many companies.  This prong captures many consultants, free lancers and others who are engaged in
the same enterprise of the employer.  
 
Massachusetts just received a federal grant from the Labor Department to
audit companies that misclassify employees as Independent Contractors.
 
Don't put your profit on the line!

Attend this session and learn how to properly classify your workers