Contractor Told to Attend "Mandatory" Meeting, Declines, Told to Answer Phone, Declines Again

Brad Dickson • Managing Editor

Apr 17, 2022 10:00 AM EDT

This contractor was told that they had to attend a meeting by the company that they contracted. The issue was that the company had insisted that they sign them on as a contractor rather than an employee, and there wasn't anything in the contract dictating that they had to attend meetings.

This was initially posted on Twitter by the contractor, @birdrespecter, before being shared to and going viral on Reddit's r/antiwork subreddit.

The concerned workers of r/antiwork were highly supportive of the contractor's response to the boss, which was flat-out refusing to attend any meetings. The manager of the company then tried to tell the contractor that they needed to answer their phone and discuss the meetings. The contractor declined again, reminding the manager that they didn't have to do anything except what was contained within their defined contract.

Commenters jumped in to voice their knowledge about contracting terms. "Yep." said one commenter, "If you are an independent contractor in my state (maybe all states?) your employer CANNOT require that you do your job on a schedule set by them or that you show up at any specific times. It has to be mutually agreeable times."

Any contractors here? Be sure to share your experiences in the comments and read on for the full story below.