Both federal and state law bestow numerous rights and privileges to employees in Chardon and throughout the state, and employers cannot violate those rights without opening themselves up to civil litigation and potential criminal prosecution. However, some employers choose to treat workers who should qualify as employees under the law as independent contractors instead, often resulting in serious financial losses for the affected workers.
If your employer misclassified you for any reason, you should make it a priority to speak with a Chardon employee misclassification lawyer as soon as possible. Once retained, your dedicated wage and hour attorney can clarify what rights you should have by law, help determine whether you have grounds for a claim, and work on your behalf to seek fair restitution for back pay and other recoverable damages.
What Does it Mean to be Misclassified?
Anyone who repeatedly performs the same job duties while being supervised by someone else and is subject to employer rules regarding shift times and appropriate behavior during working hours is an employee under the law.
Conversely, an independent contractor is someone who works without supervision, has the ability to make independent decisions about how and when he or she completes work tasks, and may perform very different tasks on different workdays. Independent workers also receive a 1099 Form to file yearly taxes, as opposed to the W-2 Form that employees receive.
These criteria determine whether someone is an employee or an independent contractor—not job titles, business structures, or even the direct word of an employer. Accordingly, if an employer treats a worker as an independent contractor although he or she does not meet the criteria, the worker may have grounds for an employee misclassification case that a Chardon attorney can help pursue.
Possible Consequences of Employee Misclassification
Employee misclassification could have several repercussions beyond receiving a different type of form during tax season. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets out federal regulations for minimum wage, overtime pay, and more, only applies to workers who are considered employees, so there are no federal rules regarding what kind of compensation independent contractors must receive or when they should receive it.
Because of this, employees who are misclassified as independent contractors often miss out on a significant amount of wages, paid time off, and paid sick days that they should be entitled to under the law. Fortunately, a lawyer in Chardon can help an employee affected by misclassification seek compensation for every loss his or her employer’s mistreatment led the worker to sustain in addition to potential treble damages in certain situations.
Talk to a Chardon Employee Misclassification Attorney Today
Understandably, the prospect of filing suit against your employer can be intimidating, even if you know he or she has stolen wages from you by virtue of misclassifying your employment status. However, you have every right to demand fair compensation under the law for the work you perform, and that means you should not take violations of wage and hour law lightly.
An experienced Chardon employee misclassification lawyer can stand by your side from the beginning to the end of your case, working with you to achieve the best resolution possible. Learn more about legal options by calling Tittle & Perlmuter today.