Election Year Politics and Worker Classification Issues

We are in the midst of a presidential election year, and the issue of worker classification has surfaced as a labor and tax policy issue, as it normally does. At a January 20, 2012, small business tax roundtable held by Tax Analysts, Reggie Oldak, one of the senior counsels for the National Women’s Law Center, criticized the “20 common law factors” test (used in defining who is an independent contractor or an employee) as rigged against the worker. She went on to complain that “the IRS is prevented from really devoting the energy it needs to proper [worker] classification.” In her opinion, employers have the upper hand in employment status matters and independent contractors have no workplace protections.