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Education for Justice |
FACT SHEET E-4 |
Fall
2011 |
JOB
STATUS AND YOUR RIGHTS
Your job status is what kind of worker you are. It is important to know this because your
rights at work depend on your job status.
Your job status also affects your benefits and taxes.
Am I An Employee Or
Independent Contractor?
The amount of control an employer has over your job usually
shows if you are an employee or an independent contractor.
·
Employee: You are probably an employee if your employer
controls the tasks you do from start to finish.
Mostly, if you are an employee, you are paid regularly and not at the
end of a project. Taxes are taken out of
your paychecks and you may get benefits.
·
Independent
Contractor: An independent
contractor offers services to an employer.
If you are an independent contractor, you usually agree to finish a job
by a certain date for a certain price.
The employer doesn’t set how many hours a day you work or what days you
work. You probably do not get benefits
or have taxes taken out of your payment.
Time spent as an independent contractor does not count toward work
credits to get unemployment benefits or social security unless you pay taxes for these things as a
self-employed person.
An employer might try to call you an independent contractor
to get out of giving you benefits available to the employer’s employees (like
health insurance, and paid sick or vacation time). They might want to get out of paying taxes
for you to social security or for worker’s compensation or unemployment. If you are really an employee and not an
independent contractor, you should be getting these benefits.
Am I A Temporary Or Permanent Employee?
·
Temporary
Employment
Temporary employment is usually a
short-term job. If you are a temporary
employee, you mostly work for someone for a short period of time. You often know when the job will end. Some temporary jobs last for a long or an
uncertain time, but not usually.
·
Permanent
Employment
A permanent employee is usually
hired for a job without a set end date.
If you are a permanent employee, you usually get benefits like paid sick
or vacation time and health insurance if
the employer gives benefits.
Am I A Full-Time Or
Part-Time Employee?
·
Full-time
Employment
A full-time employee works a 40-hour
(or close to 40 hour) work week.
Employers set what is full-time or part-time themselves. The law doesn’t set this.
·
Part-time
Employment
A part-time employee usually works
from 1-30 hours a week. Employers set
what is part-time themselves. The law doesn’t
set this. Part-time employees usually
get only limited or no health benefits.
An employer isn’t supposed to
avoid paying benefits by saying you are part-time, if you really work
full-time.
For questions about your rights, call the Minnesota Department
of Labor and Industry (DOLI) at (651) 284-5005 or 1-(800) 342-5354. Or go
to their website at: www.dli.mn.gov.
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Minneapolis Legal Aid – CLE MN
Legal Services Coalition |
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