What can a 1099/contractor do anything legally if employer refuses to pay?
Well, it’s definitely time to get the party started. If your bf goes to the labor board and the IRS he can do that without an attorney and bring some heat. The IRS will be real interested to investigate as it looks like the guy might have illegal aliens he’s trying to avoid legally paying taxes on, or accounting to the gov’t for legally having contractors. You have to substantiate contractors a specific way. They have to have/provide their own work materials and cannot be working hours the employer sets. Without any documentation that shows them as contractors, with all the pay stubs and regular hours they will start looking like employees being illegally handled.
He can sue. He might also look into whether or not he was legitimately a contractor or not. You can’t make someone a contractor just by saying it’s so. The rules for what constitutes a contractor as opposed to an employee are pretty strict. I would be hard pressed to think of ANY scenario under which a “shipping manager” would be a contract position. If he was, in fact, an employee, the employer can be liable for back overtime, taxes, SS contributions, workers comp payments and a host of other things. Low-Life employers VERY often try to avoid their obligations by hiring people as “contractors” instead of “employees” – but it’s not that easy.
