Legal Question in Employment Law in California
Independent Contractor or Employee
I used to have a tenant who did the yard work for my rental property. My rental property is a 4-unit multifamily house, and she lived in one of the 4-unit. She asked me to pay her $40 per month to do the following works:
Mowed the lawn
Cleaned up the leaves
Put trashcans out on street for dumping every week
Instead of paying her $40 every month, I asked her to deduct $40 from her rent. We both orally agreed with this payment arrangement. Nothing was written down.
To make the long story short, she moved out of my rental property more than a month ago. Now she filed a claim with the State Labor Department that she has worked 1150 hours at $6.75/hour during her stayed in my rental property for approximately two years, and that I still owed her about $7000 unpaid wages. I would appreciate if you could answer the following questions:
1. Since I didn�t hire her as an employee, I just paid her $40/month to do the yard work, could she be classified as an independent contractor in this case?
2. Since I can prove that she deducted $40 from her rent every month, what are the chances for me to win this case?
3. If I win the case, can I sue her for making a faulty claim, and damaging my reputation?
Thank you!
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Independent Contractor or Employee
1. It is possible, but there is no "bright line" test to determine if someone is an employee or an independent contractor. The more control you exercises, the more likely the person will be classified as an employee. Independent contractors tend to be professionally licensed and provide their own equipment and set their own hours.
2. Your chances sound pretty good based on what you have described, but the the labor board does tend to employee friendly. If the decision goes against you, you have the option of appealing to the Superior Court.
3. You are probably referring to maliscious prosecution and that type of claim is VERY difficult to prove and strongly discourageed by the Courts.
Re: Independent Contractor or Employee
You must file opposition and defend against the claim. You will need to do so by submitting all the evidence you have to the Labor Commissioner upon filing your defense, and prsenting it at the hearings that will occur. You should consider hiring counsel to help you, unless you know how to conduct such hearings and pleadings. If done right, you should be able to show she isn't entitled to what she claims, but no guarantees can be given. Contact me if interested in doing this right. It may be possible to keep it from proceeding beyond the first hearing if you have good admissable evidence.
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