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This is one of the most abused and least understood areas of employment law. Companies are frequently in violation by designating some employees as contractors when, in fact, they do not meet the guidelines set by the IRS.
so....
does the company provide you a work environment (office, desk, phones, etc)? Is this location your primary place of employment (you are expected to be at this location more than 50 percent of your work time)?
Who supervises your work?
As a contractor you should have a Statement of Work (SOW), do you? Is it specific as the the total work to be done and not the method of accomplishment?
Do you maintain employment (contracts) with other clients?
How are you paid? If its per hour worked, are you paid upon submission of an invoice? Timesheets? Other?
Are you responsible for paying your own taxes (no withholdings by employer), and, if so, do you file quarterly returns?
There are a number of other requirements that I'm not remembering at this time in the morning, but I'm sure you can find them online or you can contact an IRS office. Basically, most "contractors" are not, in fact contractors but rather employees... in which case you may have a much stronger legal standing from which to file EEOC complaints. Of course, you can still (as a contractor) file OSHA and other complaints about your work environment with the appropriate agencies.
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