Independent contractor pay

[Jmac64]

What is the name of your state? Alabama

wife is an independent contractor. the owner of the office in which she works pays her from monies collected during the month for work that she has done. for accounting he calls this "professional services rendered".

she does no collecting, just the work, his staff bills and collects. she gets a set percentage of the total.

there is NO written contract. for years she'd get paid on the first of the month or at least within first 5 working days of the month, for the previous month's collections. the last few months he's been stretching this to 2 or 3 weeks late. Is there anyway she can force him to pay her within a reasonable time (say, within 5 days)? we're talking 9-12 thousand dollars/month, not an insignificant amount.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

Is there anyway she can force him to pay her within a reasonable time (say, within 5 days)?

Yes, it's called a contract.

 

[Beth3]

Is there anyway she can force him to pay her within a reasonable time (say, within 5 days)? Nope. Your wife is an IC, not an employee. Her only option would be see if the company owner is willing to enter into a contract dictating when she will be paid and if the company fails to do so timely, then sue him. But since your wife IS being paid, it'd hardly be worth the fuss.

Your wife is a "vendor" to this company. If she doesn't care for the timeliness in which she's being paid, she's free to stop supplying her services and look for another IC or employment opportunity elsewhere.

 

[texaswillie]

Independent Contractor Pay

You write that your wife is an "independent contractor" and that this entails working in an office. It appears she may perform some type of collection work, as she is paid from monies collected during the month for work she has done, but that she does no actually collecting.

The U.S.Department of Labor takes a very narrow approach when reviewing "independent contractor" status and in almost all cases one will find that a single employee just not qualify as an independent contractor. The Agency uses the following wording, "The principal test relied upon by the courts for determining whether an employment relationship exists has been, whether the possible employer controls or has the right to control the work to be done by the possible employee to the extent of prescribing how the work shall be performed." The Agency will look at "amount of control", state or local government licenses of the alledged "indepndent contractor", the place the work is performed, investment in office, equipment, supplies, etc of the alledged independent contractor. I will not go into further detail, but you should see that being properly classified as an independent contractor is not just something considered lightly by the U.S.Department of Labor.

Having written all of this, it is seldom that one would find an independent contractor woking in office duties. Even contract "Kelly Girls", a term used long ago, may be "joint employees" of the company they are working for as well as "Kelly Girls" and not independent contractors.

It may very well be possible that your wife has not been properlry classifed or properly paid during her employment.

Whether your wife can get paid sooner under the arrangement she is now under would be a matter that should be discussed with the employer. If it gets to a point where she is not being paid at all, then you will probally need to confer with an attorney concerning contract law.