1099 - MISC Previous Employer Doesn't Want to Pay Me My Last 2 Checks

Working on a 1099 you were self employed.
They are in violation of any contract (you should have had one) but labor laws apply to employees, not contracts.
Had you been an employee you would have more rights, and they would have witheld taxes.
Driving their truck and having them tell you where to go this employee, contractor line is very blurred. The downside is you are telling on yourself if you turn them in.

 

It means you probably were not paying the taxes you should have been, and that company definitely wasn't.

 

I've been working as a contract worker driving their Trk's at the end of the year I have to pay taxes etc, unless its cash and not reported? maybe thats telling on your self. I'm still not clear on this contract worker thing I did sign something for them.
Last year I did have to pay taxes and the person that does my taxes thinks there's something questionable about this contract worker thing??

 

You didn't do anything wrong as long as you were paying your taxes. 1099 you're paying more taxes than you would if you were an employee. If anybody is doing anything wrong it would be the company, by not paying taxes on an employee. Who paid your Workman's Comp? If the company did you might be considered an employee. If you did then you might be considered a contractor. Nothing to tell on as far as yourself.
This seems to be a real grey area in the trucking industry.

 

There is a lot to deal with here.

First, the 1099 do not deal with whether or not Izabel is an employee or an independent contractor. Apply the "Duck Test." If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. Here, if the carrier provided the tools of the trade (the truck), and told the driver where to fuel, where to pick up, when to be there, where to deliver, what route to drive, etc., then the driver is most likely an employee.

Second, as to the pay issue,that is a bigger issue. Most states, however, have penalty provisions where an employer holds paychecks. The laws in many states allow recover of attorney fees for a former employee who prevails in a wage suit. It is better to go the small claims court route than to waste time with a State Labor Dept.

Third, why is the company withholding pay? If it is because the driver would not drive in violation of the law, e.g., HOS, bald tire, audible air leak, then withholding the pay is illegal and the driver may be able to go through OSHA and recover damages, including punitive damages.

Paul Taylor
Attorney At Law

NOTHING IN THIS POST SHOULD BE CONSTRUED AS CREATING AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP.