Following the guidelines of the course ID guidelinesStudent’s NameUniversity
Summary
Make-a-Bed employed John Engineer as an independent contractor for the role of a solo consultant. John uses to work for more than one company that made Make-a-Bed hire him as an independent contractor. The company did not make any contract with John regarding his terms of employment, and his roles and duties were discussed orally. Later on, during the tenure of John’s job, he left other companies and started giving his entire time to the Make-a-Bed. After completion of one year, the company found John useless and decided to evacuate him from his job and employ some other consultancy firm.
Removal of John from his position made him claim for unemployment benefits showing Make-a-Bed as the last employer. The company supplied the unemployment office a 1099 form that shows that John was a contractor and not an employee of the enterprise. The company also denied paying John’s claim ("Fact Sheet #13: Am I an Employee?: Employment Relationship Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)", 2014). Hence, it is important to analyze John’s role in the firm to whether he was an employee of the firm or a contractor and make a proper decision regarding his claim.
Analysis
The relationship between John and Make-a-Bed must be examined under the common law to determine whether he was an independent contractor or an employee of the firm. In doing so, the degree of control and independence must be analyzed by using the three categories of test that are discussed in the points given below:
Behavioral control: The behavioral control can be judged by two types and degrees of control:
Training that the business gives to John: John was not provided with any sorts of training because he was a professional individual working solely as a consultancy firm ("Employer's Supplemental Tax Guide", 2016).
Financial Control: The financial controls can be judged by examining the following controls and degrees:
The extent to which John has unreimbursed business expenses: John was not paid for his expenses to visit the factories of the company.
The extent of John’s investment: John needed to work on his computer and was not provided with office appliances.
The extent to which John makes his service available to the relevant market: John was allowed to work for outside the company and render his services to other businesses ("Employer's Supplemental Tax Guide", 2016).
How the business pays John: John was paid according to the claim made on the monthly invoice.
Type of Relationship: John does not have any written contract with the Made-a-Bed, and he was allowed to work for other companies. John was not provided with employee benefits like insurance, pension plan, sick pay, vacation pay. He was hired on a temporary basis to meet up the need for growing human resources.
Conclusion
The above analysis proves that John was not a permanent employee of Make-a-Bed. The facilities provided for him show that he was hired on a contract basis but does not have any written communication to prove it. Hence, the analysis states that John is not eligible for the claim and warns the company to consider the employment law while hiring an individual contractor or an employee to avoid the uncertain situations.
Further Discussion
The analysis shows that the HR department of the company needs to make changes in its policies of hiring employees and contractors. As an HR Director, I would recommend specific policies that have been attached to organizational values and employment legislation (Megerdomian, 2016). Understanding the operational problems, such policy statements can deliver the principal purpose of organizational guidelines. Secondly, in the hiring of the human resources, the functions and job responsibility of the employees must be clarified to foster constancy and permanence of the job (MCNAMARA, 2008). Therefore, valid organizational code of conduct must be recommended to encourage the accountability of the workforce. Last but not the least; the disciplinary policy can be sustained by the organization in case of terminating a human resource. In this particular way, the policy can identify the precise activities or behavior of an employee that lead to his dismissal.
References
Employer's Supplemental Tax Guide. (2016). Department Of The Treasury Internal Revenue Service,15(A), 7-8.
Fact Sheet #13: Am I an Employee?: Employment Relationship Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). (2014). U.S. Department Of Labor Wage And Hour Division. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs13.pdf
MCNAMARA, D. (2008). Minimize Employee Lawsuits by Hiring Right and Being Fair. Pediatric News, 42(6), 41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0031-398x(08)70283-2
Megerdomian, L. (2016). Distinguishing Independent Contractors and Employees. Retrieved from http://www.law.msu.edu/clinics/tax/IC_Employees.pdf
