Legal Question in Business Law in Colorado

I work as a manager for a small dog grooming shop. The groomers that work here are all independent contractors. My question relates to how much we can hold the independent contractors accountable. We have a Policies and Procedures Manual as most employers do, and as we hire new independent contractors we ask them to read the manual and then sign an Acknowledge and Agreement statement, that basically states they will follow all Policies and Procedures or face termination. Where the issue comes in is that one of our groomers is refusing to sign this agreement due to her status of independent contractor. She claims that she cannot be held to these policies and procedures because she is not an employee of the company. We realize that we cannot give her a 'write up' for breaking policy, but we feel that if the policies are not followed then we have no consistent standards within the business. Do you have any resources I could look into to answer these questions? I find the the IRS site is not at all helpful in the details of these issues. Thank you!


Asked on 1/15/13, 11:47 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Murillo Pivotal Legal Ltd.

This business needs to hire a business attorney now. Based on your facts, these people sound like employees and this business risks an audit, interest, and penalties for incorrect classification. Now, maybe some of these people truly are contractors (that requires more facts), but getting them to sign a policy and procedures manual was an error and causes problems. Treating contractors in the same manner that you treat employees is a big red flag.

The terms and conditions should all be clearly stated in a complete contractor agreement and that agreement requires very specified terms or, once again, you have just provided written proof that these people really are statutory employees.

They need to speak with an attorney to advise and then implement proper procedures. Good luck.

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Answered on 1/15/13, 12:50 pm


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