Worker Misclassification
Exposing Improper Classification of Employees as “Independent Contractors” and Non-exempt Employees as Salaried “Managers”
Employers frequently misclassify regular workers as “1099 Independent Contractors” or “Exempt Salaried Managers” for one primary reason: to strip away minimum wage, overtime pay, workers’ compensation, and unemployment benefits.
A job title or a 1099 tax form does not determine your legal status. The court looks at the economic reality of your job, not the label your employer places on you.
Are You Misclassified?
- Independent Contractor Fraud (1099 vs. W-2)
If your employer sets your schedule, provides your tools, dictates how you perform your work, and controls your pay, you may legally be classified as an employee, not an independent contractor. We fight for delivery workers, gig economy staff, drivers, and construction workers who have been deprived of employee benefits and overtime pay.
- Improper Managerial Exemptions
If you are called an “Assistant Manager,” “Shift Lead,” or “Executive,” but spend most of your shift stocking shelves, cooking, cleaning, or waiting on customers, and if your salary level falls below a certain threshold you may be non-exempt. You may be entitled to overtime pay regardless of your salaried title.
- Worried about your immigration status?
- About not having filed a tax return?
- About not being able to afford to sue?
If you answered yes to any or all of the three questions, you are not alone.
It may surprise you that your answers to these questions DO NOT affect your eligibility to sue and win compensatory and liquidated damages from your current and/or former employer.
You are not alone. Federal labor laws protect all workers regardless of immigration status or tax filing history. Under federal law, when an employer fails to keep accurate time records, the court relies on your credible testimony to calculate what you are owed. We know the tricks employers pull—such as denying you worked there or forging signatures—and we know how to defeat them in court.