Legal Question in Business Law in New Hampshire

My rights as an 'independent contractor'
I recently read an article about differentiating between and independent contractor and an employee. The company that we work with says that we are independent contractors however they supply the materials, they also tell us when they want us to check on work being done, have requested that we attend meetings with their clients and we are introduced as 'supervisors', we've been doing everything they ask, however recently, they said they wanted us to go up to one of the locations and check on the job to make sure it was done well. My understanding after having read the article is that they can require the outcome but not 'how' you perform your work. In this case, they are trying to control how we work. When we told them that we had everything under control and didn't see the need to go up there, his response was, ''that's all I needed to know''. Three days later, they cancelled the contract with us. My question, is whether this is legal? My feeling is that we are actually being treated as ''employees''.

Asked on 5/04/05, 1:56 pm

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Re: My rights as an 'independent contractor'

The defintion of an employer is dictated byb two different governmental authorities, one is the IRS and the other would be by the State in which you are employed and their definition of an employee for State Unemployment purposes. Since you reside in NH, it would be NH law.

The other issue is what your contract says about termination and the grounds for same. If they violated the terms of the contract that is a separate issue.

I would suggest since you reside in NH that you contact a NH attorney conversent in NH employment law.

Answered on 5/05/05, 1:29 pm

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