OPK Telemarketing Opportunity Knocks Telemarketing Unpaid Wages By Work At Home Telemarketing Job Littleton Hawaii

I worked for this company for 1.5 years.  I quit because they were three months behind in my pay.

That was in September 2013, today is  July 1, 2015 and I am still owed 1,500.00. I turned all my call records in.

There was not one word from their side complaining  to me about not doing my work.  I called as I said and deserved to get

paid.

 I have emailed Jennifer many times asking for payment, she pretends not to be herself.  I have never known a

company to be less caring and dishonest, there should be a jail cell for her and Bob.  To cheat and lie to their employees

is unthinkable in my mind.

All the other complaints are true.... their are no lying Employees or Corporations.  The tunicci's are the theives.  Check other

websites for further information you will see the same thing over and over, I don't know why they are not closed down.

I will not give up trying to get my money.

Faye Stewart

I have received only one more check for $196.00, so only a little over $400 total was paid, not bad for 98 hours of work, I'm sure that if I lived in a Central American country that $4.00 an hour wouldn't be bad.

I guess I should be happy to get anything considering three out of five work at home telemarketing jobs don't pay you anything, since it's easy to take advantage of the unsuspecting.

Once they missclassify you as an independent contractor and you are working out of state, it's telemarketer beware, this will make it much harder to collect your wages.

Most legitimate telemarketing businesses that I've worked for have either asked me to work for them again, and for some that haven't had lucrative and profitable business offers, they have not.

Most businesses can be registered with the BBB, many complaints are never heard usually when they are an employee which isn't covered as a business complaint, I guess the so called independent contractor isn't covered either.

Also, it is common that many voices are silenced, could this be because of being threatened with bogus legal tactics?, this may be an interesting assumption considering the nature of companies who prefer people to dummy up instead of fighting for their paychecks.

Through the years telemarketing has been a living for those with bad backs, housewives and retired people, but with the current economic conditions, things have changed.

A word to the wise, when in doubt work locally unless you really know them, because if you can't knock on their door, it's an invitation to all kinds of hassles and hardships.

When and if I get paid the full amount, I'll be sure to post it for the readers, the public has a right to know.

As the Owner of OPK Telemarketing, I ask anyone reading this post to think about this forum and this post for a little bit.  OPK has been in business for 9 years.  We have an A rating at the Better Business bureau.    We have many happy contractors and many happy repeat customers.  I can provide names of hundreds of people who will vouch that they have been paid for submitted invoices as agreed on a regular basis. Anyone who would like references or who would like to speak to these contractors about the work they do for OPK is more than welcome to contact me and I can put you in touch with hundreds of people who will verify this information. How would OPK stay in business if OPK did not pay it's contractors?  How would OPK continue to run if it did not pay? It would not be possible. There would be MANY MANY more complaints and posts if this were the case.

As to the misclassification of contractors, talk to an expert (cpa/accountant or tax lawyer) as we at OPK have done before believing any of the information posted here.  I seriously doubt any of those who have posted here are cpa's or tax lawyers and really cannot classify themselves as experts on these very complicated subjects. 

Remember whenever you read a post like this about any company, that anyone can come in here and post anything they like, whether it is true or not true, and the company who is the victim of the post has no recourse but to respond and hope that whomever reads the post reads the response.  There is no way to remove any post-- true or false, so as a result it is likely that there are many companies here who are victims of false posts and untrue information.     You should only be concerned if the company is new with no track record (and already getting complaints) or if there is a pattern of many posts and complaints--that is when you should be wary of a company, but when it's just one post or very few, and when that company has an A rating at the BBB and has an excellent 9 year track record and is willing to provide  references and testimonials, it is unlikely that the post is something to be concerned about.

As to this particular contractor, OPK has paid this contractor all monies owed.  There is a lot more to this situation than the contractor points out, but I won't get into the details as I don't want to sling any mudd here, lets just say there were some very questionable invoices and nonetheless, they were all paid. 

Thank you Caitlin and Robert for your suggestions.

After reading your post, I decided to find out what the professionals know about it.
It turns out that you don't really need to have a registered name or business license to be an independent contractor, but it does beg the question why employers aren't asking that question themselves to cover tax and legal issues.

This seems to be happening a lot from the information I've gathered so let me make it clear. Caitlin was correct about the training and instructions. Robert, the definition of an independent contractor doesn't apply here and I'll explain why.

It seems that according to common law, an independent contractor could possibly be an employee if the individual who works at home has some supplies provided by the employer.

When the company furnished me the computer database of telephone numbers to be called, including any sales scripts, they essentially furnished the needed materials to do the job and acted as an employer.
Also when they provide instructions, telemarketing tips and again telemarketing scripts, then you are an employee.

Usually an employee has to take instructions from the business owner or management, this includes when, where and how to work or what equipment to use.
I was told to get my business calls done in a certain amount of hours before the end of the week.

I was also told where to call, my calling areas were chosen for me. Again, I was given instructions and training. I was told to use there provided computer calling database, these were all their targeted businesses decided by them.

The definition of an employee is generally a worker who receives an hourly wage amount, just like I was.
On the other hand an independent contractor is normally paid a flat fee, an independent contractor can make their own profit or loss, the position paid set wages per hour, not commission or a percentage, nor was it a pay per single call or a paid by appointment only job description.

Even if there could possibly be any breach of contract in any shape or form, since the employer misclassified the employee as an independent contractor, it has suggest a strong indication of being invalid. Now for small claims court, small non-payment complaints may be alright, but that's only one part of it, it is a more than obvious misclassified tax issue.

You might want to look at the Internal Revenue Service website to get the bigger picture.

Caitlin is incorrect.  You do not need to have a Registered Business Name or Business License to be an "Independent Contractor".

Based on the description of the job, and the fact that the OP was using their equipment at their home.  This would meet the basic definition of an Independent Contractor.   As such the company is not subject to labor laws, because they are not an employer.  As for any "instructions" received, that has nothing to do with the determination of being an IC or Employee.

Now, as an IC the person gets a 1099 instead of a W-2.  As such Caitlin is correct in that the company does not have to pay certain taxes.  But the IC does.  At the end of the year they will have to fill out a Schedule-C to report this income and be taxed on it.

This does not mean that the OP does not have recourse.  But the only recourse they would have is if they are not being payed what the "contract" stated.  For example if the only thing the contract states is that they get paid $1 per call.  It does not matter if that call took 30 Seconds or 3 hours, as long as they pay $1 per call there is no breach of contract.  The difference here is that instead of the labor board, they need to use the Courts(proably small claims) to resolve the matter.

Do you have a registered business name and a business license?

If not, you are an employee, telemarketing companies are notorious for not filling out the correct paperwork for a reason. Do you advertise your own services to the public? or did you see the employer listed in the help wanted somewhere?

A lot of times companies will tell you that you are an independent contractor to avoid paying taxes. You also mentioned trainings, if they gave you instructions, then it's more than likely that you don't qualify to be an independent contractor, even if it is a work at home position.

I'm sorry to hear about your financial setbacks because of it. Be sure to contact the department of labor, and let them know that you have been misclassified as an independent contractor instead of an employee if this is the case.
Hoped this helped, good luck.

This company has the wrong state posted on it, the street address is correct but they are located in Colorado, I hit the wrong button by mistake.