Filterqueen Filter Queen, Healthmoor Independent contract employment is over Strongville Ohio

As former employee (oops "independent contractor") Filter Queen should do some reading of sections 1 and 2 of the Restatement (Third) of Agency.  As an independent contractor you have a fiduciary responsibility.  For the case of Filter Queen this means "A person having a duty created by his or her undertaking to act primarily for another's benefit in matters connected with the undertaking".  At the same time, a fiduciary relationship, means that the relationship involves trust and confidence. 

According to the American Law Institute, section 2 of the Restatement (Third) of Agency (https://users.wfu.edu/palmitar/ICBCorporations-Companion/Conexus/UniformActs/Restatement%28third%29Agency.pdf ) defines and independent contractor as:

"A person who contracts with another to do something for the owner (or employer) but who is not controlled by the owner (or employer) nor subject to the owner's (or employer's) right to control with respect to the independent contractor's physical conduct in the performance of the undertaking."

This means that if you are cleaning the office, being threatened with not getting sales calls (if the owner has a telemarketing center) if you don't perform a certain task, and you are being forced in the morning for training sessions, then you are considered an employee.

In addition, the IRS has posted on their website (http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Independent-Contractor-Defined) the definition of an independent contractor:

“The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if the payer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done. The earnings of a person who is working as an independent contractor are subject to Self-Employment Tax.

If you are an independent contractor, you are self-employed. To find out what your tax obligations are, visit the Self-Employed Tax Center.

You are not an independent contractor if you perform services that can be controlled by an employer (what will be done and how it will be done). This applies even if you are given freedom of action. What matters is that the employer has the legal right to control the details of how the services are performed.

If an employer-employee relationship exists (regardless of what the relationship is called), you are not an independent contractor and your earnings are generally not subject to Self-Employment Tax.”

An employer-employee relationship exists if you have to report to an office every day, you receive sales calls from a telemarketing department, you are asked to clean the office up, and you wait in the office for a sales call after attending a mandatory daily sales meeting. These employer-employee relationships because the freedom of action is “dictated by an employer that has the legal right to control the details of how the services are performed.”

Filter Queen should get busy and clean up their mess about their "independent dealer network" or one of these days someone presents them with a class action lawsuit and the IRS may want to get some taxes that they are owned at the same time.  There is a reason why Filter Queen hires reps in Washington and not Oregon because Oregon law doesn't recognize this form of employment (after all they do collect state income taxes).  Many other states should get busy and do the same.

If Filter Queen built high quality stuff that they can stand behind (I do like the product) then it can compete with Dyson on the showroom floor of Best Buy rather than wasting time, money, and resources on foolish sales offices that may even dub as an MLM system (when utilized with branch offices) with high pressure sales tactics that make the company and who it represents as undesirable people to do business with.  Especially when it involves a $3000 vacuum cleaner with a high interest rate to buy (if your credit is bad) that can be bought on EBay for $700.

Those that are sitting in on a sales presentation, would do the rep a big favor by directing them to this blog.