From Independent Contractor Compliance — “Today’s online edition of New York Magazine’s “Daily Intelligencer” includes a comprehensive article on how Silicon Valley start-up tech companies using “the 1099 model” may be exposed to employment, tax, and benefit law liabilities that could drive them out of business or cause them to change to a W-2 model. Kevin Roose’s fine article is entitled “Does Silicon Valley Have a Contract-Worker Problem?”Roose predicts that venture capital funding sources that have invested in 1099-model start-ups may not have anticipated their potential exposure to the types of class action lawsuits where the contract workers allege that they are not really independent contractors but actually misclassified employees. The article examines companies that use the 1099 model – such as TaskRabbit errand service, Homejoy house cleaning, Uber car service, BloomThat flower delivery, Washio laundry services, and Spoonrocket meal delivery – and concludes that “If their [freelance 1099ers] are classified as employees then that suddenly makes their business model untenable.”…”
Read the full story at Silicon Valley Misclassification: ‘New York’ Magazine Focuses on How the 1099 Economy May Be Exposing Tech Start-Up Companies to Costly Liability for Their Use of Independent Contractors
