n EVIL HR LADY
DILEMMA OF THE MONTH
CAN YOU SWITCH A FULL-TIME
WORKER INTO A
CONTRACTOR?
by Suzanne Lucas
ILLUSTRATION: JOHN CHASE
W
e have a longtime employee who asked
to work from home after having twins.
She’s been working from home for a year
now successfully. She just got a new boss, and he
wants her either in the office full time or to change
her status to a contractor. Can we do this? How much
do we pay her as a contractor? She currently makes
$100,000 a year.
A
26
comstocksmag.com | June 2019
THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE: No, you can’t
do this.
To be a contractor, you have to meet
certain criteria. You can’t simply say, “I’d
like this employee to be a contractor!” The
federal government has strict standards,
and California is even stricter than the IRS.
To be a contractor, the following has
to happen:
• She must be independent — she needs
to determine how, when and where she
does her work.
• Her work cannot be part of the core
business function.
• She must be independently established
and free to have additional clients.
(And should have additional clients.)
• She must use her own equipment.
• Typically, the contractor bills the
business.
• There must be a written contract be-
tween the business and the contractor.
• There must be an end date.
You can see, she’s not a contractor. She
would be doing the same job with the
same equipment, she wouldn’t have ad-
ditional clients, and there wouldn’t be an
end date.
The real question is why does this
manager want to make her a contractor?
She’s been successful at the job, so why
make the change?