State Labor Commission collects $53,500 in fines from recent county-wide crackdown on salons

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.eurekareporter.com/article/080426-state-labor-commission-collects-53500-in-fines

By VIVIAN DUNLAP, The Eureka Reporter
Published: Apr 26 2008, 10:54 PM

To the California State Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, making unannounced visits to businesses, also known as “enforcement sweeps,” are necessary practices to ensure the state’s labor laws are being complied with.

But ask one of the local salon owners whose business was recently “swept,” and she’ll tell you the experience was downright traumatic.

“She was not helpful and was not nice by any means,” Arcata salon owner Erin Macpherson said of the enforcement officer who investigated her salon.

Macpherson was one of several local salons who were given a “stop-work order,” as a result of the investigations, and ultimately had to pay over $6,000 in fines to keep her business running.

The Labor Commission’s Web site says that four businesses were cited in Humboldt County for “illegally classifying employees” during a state-wide industry sweep of nail salons in March. $53,500 was collected in this county alone.

A statement from Angela Bradstreet, the California State Labor Commissioner, says: ”Many of the salons and spas cited, illegally classified their employees as independent contractors ... Simply calling someone an independent contractor, or even having them sign an agreement to that effect, does not make them independent.”

Since so many hair and nail salons are run the way Macpherson’s is, where the owner rents out booths to independent cosmetologists, the state felt it was time to conduct some investigations.

FULL story at link.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Everybody I know tries the "independent contractor" scam

I convinced my boss this was NOT the way to work his business--and yet there are other pest control companies that provide trucks, equipment, uniforms, and chemicals to their workers and yet call them "independent contractors". They don't have to pay payroll taxes, and rarely file 1099s.

I had an offer of a secretarial job--answering phones, writing letters, sorting data--all things provided for me, including the office (part of the person's home)--and this was said to be an "independent contractor" job. I nearly laughed in the person's face. She offered me the same salary I have now, but said she wouldn't file a 1099, so I'd have "more" money. Yeah, sure. And no unemployment benefits when she decided to fire me, no SS or Medicare credits. Once my husband was given a 1099 by a gas station owner who tried the same scam. The owner tore up the 1099 to "prove" he wasn't going to file it with the feds. My husband made sure to file the 1099 with his income tax returns.