EDD/ADA

Yesterday I met with a small business owner who has been audited by EDD and had a number of their  independent contractors reclassified as employees. This person is not one of those people who is flagrantly misclassifying  people but has really tried to comply with the law.  She has gone through workers compensation audits and they have agreed with her that they are independent contractors.

She hired an attorney to draw up her contract and is appealing the decision. They are saying she owes $75000. She also will probably have EDD report to IRS which could cause more problems.

FYI there is an amnesty in effect with IRS. Her advice to small businesses is if you are not entirely sure that people meet the independent contractor status classify them as employees.

Yesterday I went to a seminar on ADA. Many of you are aware of the lawsuits being filed against small businesses by attorneys looking to collect money from them under ADA and state ADA laws. The most interesting thing I heard at the seminar is that Charles Schwab lost a lawsuit against them because their website was not ADA compliant. One more thing to worry about.

Scott Hauge
President
Small Business California
2311 Taraval Street
San Francisco, CA  94116
shauge@cal-insure.com
415-680-2188