You Don't Own Me: 1099 Work

It amuses me that one of my freelance jobs at the moment is writing blog entries for a law firm, from scratch. So far they haven't complained.

With that dubious legal imprimatur, permit me to comment on independent contracting. Having been the VP of Finance of a very small independent contracting firm (one contractor, full-time, and me, putting in a few hours when the quarterly taxes were due) I do know a little about this.

Independent contractors are supposed to deliver contracted work products, period. A construction contractor delivers a building, within specs. A 1099 programmer delivers a completed computer program. A realtor delivers a signed real estate contract.

Theoretically, employers should provide benefits to employees according to the Fair Labor Standards Act. They cannot exert the same control over 1099 workers, to whom they do not provide benefits.

The employer does not tell the independent contractor when, where or how to work. The Department of Labor supposedly looks askance at an employer who says, "You'll work in our office from 8:30 to 5 on these days," or otherwise dictates how the work is completed.

In other words, you can't bring in someone who would otherwise be an employee and say, "We declare you an independent contractor, so we're not going to pay you benefits."

But in fact the Department of Labor is a little mushy on this topic. The DOL is unlikely to enforce the distinction unless the employer deprives workers of benefits on a massive scale.

And if independent contractors protest, independently, that it's inappropriate for clients or customers to attempt to control how we work, we're unlikely to find more work with those customers again.

Yet it behooves freelancers all, collectively, to understand how the law works, and to be able to protest its violation if necessary. The Fair Labor Standards Act exists for our benefit, too.