Pittsburgh Employment Law Blog

As an employer, you may occasionally need to hire independent contractors in order to get the job done. While this can be an economically efficient way to bring in extra resources for a particular project, it is important to understand the intricacies of employee classification under the law, and how you can work to avoid any legal breaches and litigation as a result.

The most key point to note is that independent contractors are not the same as employees under the law; therefore, they should never be treated as such. It is always best to create a written agreement when initiating a working relationship with an independent contractor so that you know where rights and responsibilities stand.

As an employer, it is important that you understand the nature of all the laws in place that protect your employees. This is so that you can create an environment where these laws are obeyed at all times, and also so that you can protect yourself from being exposed to employer litigation claims. By investing time in learning about the law, you have the power to prevent costly lawsuits from arising further down the line.

Learning about the rights and protections of disabled people in the workplace is no exception. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is in place to make sure that disabled people are legally protected from shortcomings they might face in the workplace.

As a Pennsylvania small business owner, it may be your responsibility to classify your employees correctly with regard to whether they are actual employees or independent contractors. Classifying your employees appropriately from the outset is critical, because there are some very important distinctions between the two types of workers, and inaccurately claiming that an employee is an independent contractor can land you in some serious hot water.

In brief, independent contractors set their own hours, meaning labor laws do not apply to them, and independent contractors also typically have far more freedom and pay their own way with regard to payroll taxes. When you have formal employees, on the other hand, you are on the hook for more, tax-wise, which can lead some business owners to intentionally misclassify their workers. If you misclassify your workers and the Internal Revenue Service catches the error, however, you can anticipate an audit, and, quite possibly, considerable fines and fees.

When employees take sick leave, you will want to respect their rights as employees and make sure that they take adequate time to recover so they can be effective employees when they return back to work. However, while you probably want to believe that your employees are trustworthy and have the right intentions for the company, you may have reason to suspect that they are taking sick leave fraudulently.

You might be suspicious because you have noticed that a certain employee will only take sick leave around holiday seasons, or that he or she claims to be very ill yet only takes one day leave and comes back the next day feeling fine. Here's what to do if you believe that one of your employees is taking fraudulent sick leave.