New Jersey Employee Misclassification Lawyer
If you perform work for someone in exchange for compensation, you need to be classified as either an exempt or non-exempt employee or as an independent contractor. This is more than semantics. Classification determines your legal rights to things such as the minimum wage, overtime pay, and workers’ compensation benefits. So if an employer has deliberately misclassified you in order to remove these critical protections, you need to take action.
At Poulos LoPiccolo PC, our New Jersey employee misclassification lawyers work with clients to protect the rights of workers. If your employer has improperly claimed you are an exempt employee or an independent contractor, we can walk you through the steps of correcting that mistake and if necessary taking legal action.
Understanding How Exempt and Non-Exempt Employees Differ from Independent Contractors
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act and New Jersey law require an employer to classify all of their employees as “exempt” or “non-exempt.” A “non-exempt” worker is typically someone who is paid on an hourly basis and entitled to receive the applicable minimum wage and overtime pay rates required by law. An “exempt” employee, in contrast, is as the name suggests exempt from these requirements.
Many salaried workers are exempt. But you are not exempt simply because your employer pays you a salary. An exempt employee must perform certain types of duties. The most common category of exempt employees are executive, administrative, and professional workers. There are strict rules governing the types of job duties these exempt employees perform, so your employer cannot “exempt” you simply by giving you a managerial title that confers no real authority.
Nor can an employer avoid its obligations as an employer by declaring you an “independent contractor.” An independent contractor is a self-employed individual who furnishes their services to another business. Independent contractors are expected to pay their own taxes and other expenses, such as insurance, and are effectively a separate operation from the employer.
Employers often try to cut their own expenses by misclassifying employees as independent contractors. But once again, there are strict rules governing these types of classifications. So if you are an employee who has been misclassified as an independent contractor, it is important that you stand up and take action–otherwise you may find yourself on the hook for a substantial tax bill at the end of the year and lose access to other critical employee benefits.
Contact Employee Misclassification Lawyers Serving Ocean, Monmouth & Middlesex County
Employee misclassification can be very costly for the affected employee. Indeed, employers abuse the law precisely so they can offload many of their employment-related expenses onto workers. This is against the law and you do not have to put up with it.
Instead, you need to speak with a qualified New Jersey claims of employee misclassification as soon as possible. The team at Poulos LoPiccolo PC can review your case and advise you on a course of action to get your employer to comply with the law. Contact us today to schedule an initial consultation.
