'He will owe us almost $30,000 in back pay': 1099 contractors rebel after working over 80 hours a week for their boss and having to sleep in their cars on work trips

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Oct 2, 2024 2:00 PM EDT

It's always shocking how many bosses think they can get away with shady behavior in this day and age. Employees are more empowered than ever, and when they feel like they're getting manipulated, it's not exactly hard to document and collect evidence in the digital age.

Here, we have a boss who clearly hired all of his workers as 1099 contractors rather than full-time salaried employees in order to circumnavigate taxation. Despite their freelance status, these workers were putting in over 80 hours of labor each week and were even subjected to booking their own hotels (and in some cases, sleeping in their cars) for work trips. Not exactly the employer of the year here! Thankfully, this Redditor had enough of this treatment and began the process of filing a report with the department of labor to see if they do, in fact, qualify for W2 forms.

Keep scrolling below for the full story and for similar situations from other folks in the comments section. This is clearly a more common practice than anyone would imagine. For more tales of workplace drama, here is the story of a boss who required far too many text updates.

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  • 01
    Tax Withholding and Fetim SCHEDULED C
    via Kelly Sikkema

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    My boss is making me work 80 hours straight no overtime pay
    via beveygames
  • 03
    I work for a security company and my boss lists us at "1099 Contractors" so he doesn't have to pay taxes
    via beveygames
  • 04
    and we get all the burden of that. Cake on top is he picks up out of town jobs for us, sends us and then has us either sleep in our cars or get air mattresses
    via beveygames
  • 05
    and sleep in the stores (No showers) for days. I only do it because I can make 2k in a week but still it . I'm currently
    via beveygames
  • 06
    on hour 43 on a 7 day contract. My friend called the labor department and they are going to investigate him to see if we should be labeled W2,
    via beveygames
  • 07
    if so they said he will owe us almost 30k in back pay.
    via beveygames
  • 08
    NoAd... 10h ago. • If you're being taxed on a 1099, you set your own hours. He can either classify you correctly or pay overtime. Technically
    via beveygames
  • 09
    with this classification, you also set your own pay.
    via beveygames
  • 10
    I had a boss who did this once, and I reported them after I left the job. I was also taxed what they were supposed to withdraw with my paycheck, but it was worth it for them to be penalized.
    via beveygames
  • 11
    kv4268 10h ago • • Call the IRS and ask them if you're misclassified as a contractor. I bet you are. They'll take care
    via beveygames
  • 12
    of getting the tax withholding from him, and the department of labor will handle the rest.
    via beveygames
  • 13
    LikeA... • 10h ago • If you're a contractor then they're not your boss, they're your client. You set your working hours and you negotiate your pay.
    via beveygames
  • 14
    10h ago Edited 10 Good Luck. • After 7 months, the DOL/EEOC ruled that I was an FTE and misclassified as a contractor so they could not pay benefits and taxes.
    via beveygames
  • 15
    And the fake IT Staffing company the client uses for augmenting no-bid. federal grant projects Remember the following embezzled my pay.
    via beveygames
  • 16
    He omitted my name on the timesheets he submitted for payment so I did not even get a 1099. He knows all the tricks.
    via beveygames
  • 17
    It has been 16 months and I have not been paid. Of course, I got fired for reporting the felony grand theft, but white-collar crimes are not prosecuted.
    via beveygames
  • 18
    Svenel... 11h ago • • Document document document
    via beveygames
  • 19
    naasty... 7h ago • If you're 1099 you're probably submitting your own invoice. Bill for overtime and if he says no then start the process of hitting him with the law.
    via beveygames

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