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Implementation, customization, defense, review and sanitization of W2, 1099 and overtime-exempt installer structures and pay plans – focusing on BLLP’s custom IC Brick Wall protocols.
Independent contractor reclassification traditionally holds either the first or second annual top liability spot in the industry. The classification of individuals as employees or independent contractors is a highly controversial issue and courts at both the state and federal level take a fact-specific “totality of the circumstances” approach when deciding cases involving a worker’s proper classification. Further complicating the analysis is that even within a particular state, the statutes and agency interpretations usually differ. This means that even among a state’s own agencies, different standards and precedents are often applied in making a worker classification determination. Indeed, the IRS itself is continually criticized because its own agents are unable to apply a set standard consistently to worker reclassification audits.
In the 1990s, BLLP developed the “IC Brick Wall” – which have become the industry’s leading set of protocols and supporting documents designed specifically on a state and product-specific basis for contractors in order to provide a very sound and reliable basis under which a company can structure and protect its use of an independent contractor relationship with installers. The BLLP IC Brick Wall provides the strongest protection as possible for a contractor’s protection, because installer reclassification audits are becoming commonplace within our industry, and the impact can be ruinous on a business. Consider that a typical reclassification attack can trigger adjustments or claims spanning the applicable statute of limitations and impacting (i) federal payroll withholding and fines; (ii) state payroll withholding and fines; (iii) worker compensation premiums; (iv) liability insurance premiums; (v) employee overtime claims; (vi) employee retirement benefit claims; (vii) employee health insurance claims; (viii) corresponding legal fees, etc.
