Recently, the government has been redefining the meaning of an independent contractor. Much has been written in the trade press and by the WFCA about the issue, the contents of which dealt with the rules that have been put into place with nary a word about why this came about, or more importantly, are these rules fair or what can be done about them? It’s as though retailers should just lie down and accept them no matter what.
The defining of independent contractors is not a new issue. The IRS tried to impose new standards of what an independent contractor was in the ‘70s, obviously to make it easier to collect taxes and fees. They aggressively prosecuted retailers in this industry, costing many flooring retailers hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes and fines. Many businesses actually had to close.