Darthbrooks
Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Texas
I am working as a subcontractor for a large satellite television installation company in the Houston Texas area. This company pays its subcontractors a fixed rate by the install. These payments used to cover much of our expense of time and labor. Recently however this company has instituted several changes that I am not entirely sure how they can legally get away with.
We have certain guidelines in our contract with this company for work that is supposed to be done on each installation. In a nutshell we can run external wiring from the dish to each room with no more than 150 feet of coaxial cabling per room. The dish is mounted on the structure. There are things in our contract that allows us to charge a customer for work out of scope. For example if we have to install the dish somewhere other than the existing structure, running wiring within internal walls via attic crawlspaces, installs that use more than 150 feet of cabling per room, attic work, etc.
Several major problems have arisen recently.
1. Pressure by the contracting company to perform out of scope, or what is termed “custom work”, for free.
On jobs where special materials and out of scope work is needed like attic work, this contracting company has on several occasions not only threatened to fire but has fired other subcontractors for not providing labor and materials to customers for free. One instance recently arose of one subcontractor being ordered by the contractor to refund a customer for labor charges he performed in her attic. It specifically states in the contract that attic work is not standard work and the subcontractor can charge the customer for it.
2. Job performance is not measured by quality of work performed but by percentage of jobs completed.
This also goes back to point one above. Subcontractors that have a lower percentage of installations completed are actually terminated. For installations where custom work is required, the only recourse for installers to reimburse themselves is to charge the customer. If the customer does not have the funds available, then the installer risks losing his job by lowering his completion percentage or he has to provide materials and labor for free to get the work done.
This story only gets worse. In many cases a customer will require a deposit with a satellite service provider like DirecTV and Dish Network to even have their service turned on. This contractor has actually pressured installers to PAY a customer’s activation fee with a service provider like DirecTV out of the installer’s own personal finances. The reason given by this contractor is too bolster an installer’s percentages so they wont get terminated. The general contracting company actually gets paid a commission by DirecTv and Dish Network for each customer activated. The general contracting company gets paid nothing if the installation is not performed. For customer's requiring an activation fee by the satellite service provider, the general contracting company has pressured us to pay these customers' bill in the past.
3. Contractor requires sub-contractors to drive across the State of Texas without compensation.
On some installations we are sent halfway across the state of Texas where the installation reimbursement does not even cover the gas cost to get there and back. In these cases we are not allowed to charge a customer a trip charge. And if we refuse the job we are threatened with termination, if not terminated out right. In these extreme cases, we are outright forced to take a loss. The expense of gas and material supply costs alone are not even covered by the payment in these extreme cases.
4. Contractor requires attendance of weekly staff meetings
We are required to attend weekly staff meetings. We are not reimbursed for these and if we miss one we are charged back $25 in the least case, terminated in the worst case.
5. Contractor requires a dress code.
All installers are required to wear the contracting companies uniform with their company logo. Many installers have their own companies yet they are forced to wear this contracting company’s uniforms. Subcontractors are charged back for not wearing the contractor’s uniforms in the least case, terminated in the worst case.
My question is this:
Is this contractor exerting so much financial and behavioral control over the subcontractors as to warrant bringing this up to the IRS or other state agencies as a potential employee/subcontractor misclassification? The manager at this local contractor office has even boasted in staff meetings in front of all the subcontractors that the only reason we are classified as such is for them to not have to pay state unemployment insurance. If they are breaking the law potentially, what avenues do we have available to bring these issues up with the IRS or what agency within the state of Texas should we notify?
Is there any other legal recourse we can take for the other issues? Like pressuring us to not charge customers for out of scope work? Would this be a breach of contract on their part?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance
I am working as a subcontractor for a large satellite television installation company in the Houston Texas area. This company pays its subcontractors a fixed rate by the install. These payments used to cover much of our expense of time and labor. Recently however this company has instituted several changes that I am not entirely sure how they can legally get away with.
We have certain guidelines in our contract with this company for work that is supposed to be done on each installation. In a nutshell we can run external wiring from the dish to each room with no more than 150 feet of coaxial cabling per room. The dish is mounted on the structure. There are things in our contract that allows us to charge a customer for work out of scope. For example if we have to install the dish somewhere other than the existing structure, running wiring within internal walls via attic crawlspaces, installs that use more than 150 feet of cabling per room, attic work, etc.
Several major problems have arisen recently.
1. Pressure by the contracting company to perform out of scope, or what is termed “custom work”, for free.
On jobs where special materials and out of scope work is needed like attic work, this contracting company has on several occasions not only threatened to fire but has fired other subcontractors for not providing labor and materials to customers for free. One instance recently arose of one subcontractor being ordered by the contractor to refund a customer for labor charges he performed in her attic. It specifically states in the contract that attic work is not standard work and the subcontractor can charge the customer for it.
2. Job performance is not measured by quality of work performed but by percentage of jobs completed.
This also goes back to point one above. Subcontractors that have a lower percentage of installations completed are actually terminated. For installations where custom work is required, the only recourse for installers to reimburse themselves is to charge the customer. If the customer does not have the funds available, then the installer risks losing his job by lowering his completion percentage or he has to provide materials and labor for free to get the work done.
This story only gets worse. In many cases a customer will require a deposit with a satellite service provider like DirecTV and Dish Network to even have their service turned on. This contractor has actually pressured installers to PAY a customer’s activation fee with a service provider like DirecTV out of the installer’s own personal finances. The reason given by this contractor is too bolster an installer’s percentages so they wont get terminated. The general contracting company actually gets paid a commission by DirecTv and Dish Network for each customer activated. The general contracting company gets paid nothing if the installation is not performed. For customer's requiring an activation fee by the satellite service provider, the general contracting company has pressured us to pay these customers' bill in the past.
3. Contractor requires sub-contractors to drive across the State of Texas without compensation.
On some installations we are sent halfway across the state of Texas where the installation reimbursement does not even cover the gas cost to get there and back. In these cases we are not allowed to charge a customer a trip charge. And if we refuse the job we are threatened with termination, if not terminated out right. In these extreme cases, we are outright forced to take a loss. The expense of gas and material supply costs alone are not even covered by the payment in these extreme cases.
4. Contractor requires attendance of weekly staff meetings
We are required to attend weekly staff meetings. We are not reimbursed for these and if we miss one we are charged back $25 in the least case, terminated in the worst case.
5. Contractor requires a dress code.
All installers are required to wear the contracting companies uniform with their company logo. Many installers have their own companies yet they are forced to wear this contracting company’s uniforms. Subcontractors are charged back for not wearing the contractor’s uniforms in the least case, terminated in the worst case.
My question is this:
Is this contractor exerting so much financial and behavioral control over the subcontractors as to warrant bringing this up to the IRS or other state agencies as a potential employee/subcontractor misclassification? The manager at this local contractor office has even boasted in staff meetings in front of all the subcontractors that the only reason we are classified as such is for them to not have to pay state unemployment insurance. If they are breaking the law potentially, what avenues do we have available to bring these issues up with the IRS or what agency within the state of Texas should we notify?
Is there any other legal recourse we can take for the other issues? Like pressuring us to not charge customers for out of scope work? Would this be a breach of contract on their part?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance
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