I work as a Software Engineer and currently live in California. I recently made an agreement with my employer to quit my job as a W-2 employee to transition to be a contractor with the same company. The reason I did this was to be closer to family to work remotely. I signed a 1099 and I thought that meant I can work from anywhere, but now I am under a lot of pressure at the moment because of what my former boss is now saying. I am now being told that I have to be on site every two weeks for a whole week which would cost me about $3000 a month. The contract never included anything about being on site and I thought as a 1099 contractor that by law they can’t determine where the work is performed. Does anyone have any feedback regarding what I should do at this point? Any suggestions? I’m getting a lot of pressure from my former boss that I’m in the wrong here.
Is the client okay with telecommuting ?
Yes, however they are adding a requirement (that was not part of the original contract or any contract at all for that matter) and that requirement is they want me to be on site every two weeks. However they will not allow me to adjust my rate to cover those expenses and expect me to just eat them.
Tough situation man.
Where did you find the information that if you are a 1099 employee, you don’t have to be onsite ?
California Labor Code, § 3353 [“‘Independent contractor’ means any person who renders service for a specified recompense for a specified result, under the control of his principal as to the result of his work only and not as to the means by which such result is accomplished.”]. As they are requiring me to be on site every two weeks from 8 AM to 5 PM they are determining the hours which I work on a regular basis. Which also means they’re misclassifying me. I’m not against being on site my problem comes down to they didn’t include it in the contract and they expect me to pay all the expenses which would cost me about $20-$30,000 a year which they expect me to eat.
That’s all well and good, but all consulting contracts come with implied or explicit facetime requirements. This is the worst I’ve heard of, but there’s often opportunity for misunderstanding in vague or underspecified contract language.
How does an attorney help ?
Any Idea how much tax advantage a company gets for W2 vs 1099 ?
Why don’t you simply ask for a rider to cover your expenses? That’s an entirely reasonable thing to do in this circumstance.
“Rider” ?
I was told that I could not adjust my rate when I transitioned from W2 to 1099 and with that said they wouldn’t allow an increase. The requirement to be on site was discussed after the contract and rate was agreed to and everything was signed. So now that the contract is signed and they have added and additional verbal requirement that I show up every two weeks it feels like they locked me in at a certain rate which if they want me to be on site every two weeks for a week works out to be about a $30,000 expense every year. It feels like I just got tricked into it basically. I’m pushing back at the moment saying “hey the requirement to be on site for a week every 2 weeks is not in the contract and if they want it they need to add it to the contract determine how they’ll pay for that expense and we need to sign a new contract.”
Thanks I’ll check them out!
What do you mean with “former” boss pressuring you? Why would an old boss be putting pressure on you? And yes, you seem to be misclassified, talk to a lawyer to make sure. Most contractors are misclassified tho, it’s common practice. Probably terminating the contract is the easier thing you can do.
This is not legal advice. Speak to a lawyer. However, Look into California labor laws. They are some of the strictest in the country. IIRC CA companies cannot specify hours you work. If they do, they are liable to give you benefits.
Thank you. I’ll be sure to reach out to a lawyer. Just connecting the dots here my interpretation is if they are requiring me to be at a physical location at a set time interval (every 2 weeks) they are in fact determining the hours that I work.