Salary changed to 1099

[microtech]

Illinois:

I have a 2 fold question. I reside and work in Illinois as a salaried employee. Friday, my Boss told me that he was cutting my pay in 1/2 (guaranteeing me of 20 hours/wk) and issuing me 1099's and wanted me to sign a contract with a non-compete clause to become a 1099 employee that states that I will be a 1099 employee, but there are no guarantees of how many hours .

2nd. I have an existing salaried contract with them that I must take a mandatory lunch between 12-1, yet they schedule me for work during this period. They change my records daily to reflect this one hour lunch (even though I haven't taken one), and yet still charge the client for the whole time I was there.

Do I have any recourse?

[justalayman]

the first question that comes to mind is:

are you exempt or non-exempt?

then, are you actually an employee or an IC (1099)?

if you are non-exempt and/or an employee (these are things the employer does not have a choice about. they are determined by IRS and DOL), he must treat you differently than if you are exempt or an IC.

[microtech]

I don't have a clue what my exemption status is.

I am/was a full time salaried tehniciian, and in an effort to save money on paying taxes, my employer has placed all service staff on 1099's as long as they sign the agreement. Verbally, he states he will continue our insurance benefits (our contribution 35%), and a minimum of 20/hours per week (but does state that when a project completes, then the employee will be eligible for payment. Only problem is that we do not do projects, we perform maintenance which is week to week.) He will not however, enter this on the contract.

One of my fears, is that if I sign this agreement, and he gives me 0 hours /week, I wouldn't even be able to file/collect unemployment benefits, because he could simply state "I was not terminated". An additional fear, is that I have to be available to work 40 hours per week for him at his beckon call, which restricts me from working part time employment to make ends meet.

[justalayman]

well, to start with, it sounds like you are an actual employee. If so, he cannot make you a 1099'd IC. It's just that simple.

The IRS has a form you can fill out and ask them to determine your employee status. If you are considered an employee per the IRS, your employer cannot treat you as a 1099'd IC.

[url]http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss8.pdf[/url]

as to the exempt/non-exempt status. The DOl determines this.

take a look at this page:

[url=http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/screen75.asp]elaws - Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor[/url]

it will help you to determine what you can, or must, be classified. If you are non-exempt, the employer had no choice but to treat you as such.

[ecmst12]

Duplicate.

[ArmyRetCW3]

In the link below is the federal labor rules on IC-1099 if they are applicable, all 7 test must be applicable...

[url]http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs13.pdf[/url]