Legal Question in Business Law in Washington

Re: Refusal to Pay Independant Contractor

First issue is whether you are truly an independent contractor or an employee. If your time is being submitted to "payroll" rather than "accounts payable", it may be worthwhile to look at other aspects of your working relationship with the company. You may actually be an employee, in which case, they could not penalize you in this way in any case. The company would also have some other tax problems to address.

Even if you are correctly designated as an independent contractor, this policy is a change in the terms of your contract, which the company cannot do without your agreement. However, if you've accepted this modification, it may be harder (though not impossible) to dispute the point now.

What your next step is depends upon where you are in the process. Have they simply announced this policy? You may want to decide whether you can cope with it or not. I assume the contract has terms that permit the company to end the contract relationship at any time, and if you indicate intent not to accept the modification, looking at it from a practical aspect, they may simply elect to terminate your contract, especially if there is a lot of competition for the position. If you are a contractor and they already owe you money, you might be able to proceed against them, bearing in mind that 1) they can terminate your contract and 2) barring specific terms in your contract to the contrary, you can only recover the amount they owe you. (You can't recover your attorney's fees, expenses you had because you weren't paid timely, or anything else.)

Your decision is as much a matter of what makes practical sense as it is a matter of what is possible under the law. If the amount due you is significant, you may want to talk to an attorney about the details.

Re: Refusal to Pay Independant Contractor

Sounds like an unreasonable policy. Confirm with a local employment attorney.