Intentional Payroll Misclassification CFI's
#11
Banned
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Jun 2012
Posts: 161
You can talk to your employer about spending more money on you until you're blue in the face and they'll sit there and laugh at you behind the facade of feigned concern for your feelings. If they really cared about you, they'd have you covered under the worker's compensation and unemployment benefits intrinsic to the proper labor classification of W-2 employee.
#14
Let's see where this falls out:
1. Work hours - Contractors are more likely to get paid by the job, instead of a salary or an hourly wage.
I got paid per flight hour.
2. Tools - If a company buys equipment such as computers for a worker, pays for their internet connection, or buys clothing such as uniforms, the IRS considers the worker to be an employee of a company.
The company bought the airplanes. they also provided flying clothes since they are specialized. I'm darn glad I wasn't expected to buy my own gear - except for flight boots and those were like $100!
3. Job Autonomy - If a company is paying for a worker's training, and giving specific instructions that tell them how the employee should perform job duties, it is more likely that the IRS will consider the worker an employee.
They paid for my training in two different aircraft and I flew according to SOPs and training rules.
4. Job Expenses - The contract worker sets their own price to perform a job,...Contractors also pay...other expenses such as buying a hotel room and purchasing food while working on a job.
I was paid an hourly wage set by the company and per diem IAW gov't travel regs.
5. Benefits - Benefits are not provided to contract workers.
Nope. No benefits.
So - - it looks like I sort of fell in the middle of some the overall definitions.
Using this one site's checklist though, I again wonder how any flying organization would ever be able to hire "contract" employees. The industry is 100% against paying for training, but if the company pays for training then you have checked a block for being an employee
I was very happy with the job! I didn't relish being a contractor and I certainly didn't enjoy being paid per flight hour. No fly = no pay. I also liked on being 'contracted' to 14 days a month, but I was able to give them more time if my schedule allowed. Hated figuring those taxes though and surprisingly - I didn't know that I couldn't use that contractor job (though I had a minimum 'guaranteed' salary) to qualify for a loan unless I had been at the 'contractor' job for an period of some years!
USMCFLYR
Last edited by USMCFLYR; 07-24-2012 at 05:18 AM.
#15
I'm not going to start the reply to this comment with what should be a high energy volley of forced laughter. You "bring this issue directly to your employer" and you'll find yourself on the "high road" of finding another job..."contractor".
You can talk to your employer about spending more money on you until you're blue in the face and they'll sit there and laugh at you behind the facade of feigned concern for your feelings. If they really cared about you, they'd have you covered under the worker's compensation and unemployment benefits intrinsic to the properlabor classification of W-2 employee.
You can talk to your employer about spending more money on you until you're blue in the face and they'll sit there and laugh at you behind the facade of feigned concern for your feelings. If they really cared about you, they'd have you covered under the worker's compensation and unemployment benefits intrinsic to the properlabor classification of W-2 employee.
#16
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: May 2009
Position: Square root of the variance and average of the variation
Posts: 1,602
I've argued this point many times and have direct experience with it both as an incorrectly labelled "contractor CFI" and as a Part 61 flight school owner.
Someone dropped a dime on my employer when I was a newly minted CFI, the IRS came out, and determined that we were employees not contractors as listed.
When I owned my own school everyone was an employee. Previous posters are correct in that considering someone a contractor avoids the necessity of the Employer to pay worker's comp insurance, FUTA (federal unemployment tax) and their share of FICA (social security).
If an instructor showed up with his own airplane, had complete control over his/her schedule and syllabus, and simply used the office he could be designated as a contractor (even if the school provided students).
Someone dropped a dime on my employer when I was a newly minted CFI, the IRS came out, and determined that we were employees not contractors as listed.
When I owned my own school everyone was an employee. Previous posters are correct in that considering someone a contractor avoids the necessity of the Employer to pay worker's comp insurance, FUTA (federal unemployment tax) and their share of FICA (social security).
If an instructor showed up with his own airplane, had complete control over his/her schedule and syllabus, and simply used the office he could be designated as a contractor (even if the school provided students).
#17
Excellent. Thanks DH.
Let's see where this falls out:
1. Work hours - Contractors are more likely to get paid by the job, instead of a salary or an hourly wage.
I got paid per flight hour.
2. Tools - If a company buys equipment such as computers for a worker, pays for their internet connection, or buys clothing such as uniforms, the IRS considers the worker to be an employee of a company.
The company bought the airplanes. they also provided flying clothes since they are specialized. I'm darn glad I wasn't expected to buy my own gear - except for flight boots and those were like $100!
3. Job Autonomy - If a company is paying for a worker's training, and giving specific instructions that tell them how the employee should perform job duties, it is more likely that the IRS will consider the worker an employee.
They paid for my training in two different aircraft and I flew according to SOPs and training rules.
4. Job Expenses - The contract worker sets their own price to perform a job,...Contractors also pay...other expenses such as buying a hotel room and purchasing food while working on a job.
I was paid an hourly wage set by the company and per diem IAW gov't travel regs.
5. Benefits - Benefits are not provided to contract workers.
Nope. No benefits.
So - - it looks like I sort of fell in the middle of some the overall definitions.
Using this one site's checklist though, I again wonder how any flying organization would ever be able to hire "contract" employees. The industry is 100% against paying for training, but if the company pays for training then you have checked a block for being an employee
I was very happy with the job! I didn't relish being a contractor and I certainly didn't enjoy being paid per flight hour. No fly = no pay. I also liked on being 'contracted' to 14 days a month, but I was able to give them more time if my schedule allowed. Hated figuring those taxes though and surprisingly - I didn't know that I couldn't use that contractor job (though I had a minimum 'guaranteed' salary) to qualify for a loan unless I had been at the 'contractor' job for an period of some years!
USMCFLYR
Let's see where this falls out:
1. Work hours - Contractors are more likely to get paid by the job, instead of a salary or an hourly wage.
I got paid per flight hour.
2. Tools - If a company buys equipment such as computers for a worker, pays for their internet connection, or buys clothing such as uniforms, the IRS considers the worker to be an employee of a company.
The company bought the airplanes. they also provided flying clothes since they are specialized. I'm darn glad I wasn't expected to buy my own gear - except for flight boots and those were like $100!
3. Job Autonomy - If a company is paying for a worker's training, and giving specific instructions that tell them how the employee should perform job duties, it is more likely that the IRS will consider the worker an employee.
They paid for my training in two different aircraft and I flew according to SOPs and training rules.
4. Job Expenses - The contract worker sets their own price to perform a job,...Contractors also pay...other expenses such as buying a hotel room and purchasing food while working on a job.
I was paid an hourly wage set by the company and per diem IAW gov't travel regs.
5. Benefits - Benefits are not provided to contract workers.
Nope. No benefits.
So - - it looks like I sort of fell in the middle of some the overall definitions.
Using this one site's checklist though, I again wonder how any flying organization would ever be able to hire "contract" employees. The industry is 100% against paying for training, but if the company pays for training then you have checked a block for being an employee
I was very happy with the job! I didn't relish being a contractor and I certainly didn't enjoy being paid per flight hour. No fly = no pay. I also liked on being 'contracted' to 14 days a month, but I was able to give them more time if my schedule allowed. Hated figuring those taxes though and surprisingly - I didn't know that I couldn't use that contractor job (though I had a minimum 'guaranteed' salary) to qualify for a loan unless I had been at the 'contractor' job for an period of some years!
USMCFLYR
Better to have an understanding before an audit at tax time .
#18
In the aviation industry, it seems it's more of "lets see what we can get away with", rather than trying to attract professional applicants. The industry is set up so that you "have" to go through certain levels of career progressions. Since it's set up this way, employee abuse is rampant. The things that people justify on this site are sometimes downright horrific. I'm all for hard work (see above), but the employee abuse has to stop. Like was stated earlier, you complain, either nothing happens or you get fired. It's not always like this, but in contrast to what I described above about the military, the "buck stops" at the next highest level, and your concerns and questions never make it any higher in my experience. That next-level manager has a nice position and doesn't want to jeopardize it.
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AirWillie
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