The traditional arrangement between the tradesman and contracting companies and the once indispensable; neighbor, ‘college kid’, wife, sister, is now a dreaded no-no unless certain conditions are met to satisfy the governing authorities.

A law, the ‘Construction Industry Fair Play Act of 2010’ attempts to reign in “off the books” arrangements and in the process many independent contractors are being redefined as misclassified employees and subject to serious consequences.

As a result many independent contractors, including the casual and part-time office support people, must now be on the contractors payroll and be covered by the workers compensation policy or carry their own coverage with an insurance certificate available for the compensation auditor.

The following piece clearly lays out how we got here and what the future may hold for the independent contractor in NYS.  The NYSIF even has a notice to policy holders on their web site about independent contractors.  See the links below and be sure to ramp up your compliance as enforcement is already here.

More on the legislative movement against independent contractors in NYS:  http://www.pepperlaw.com/publications_update.aspx?ArticleKey=1888

A link to the actual law is here:  http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/LAWSSEAF.cgi?QUERYTYPE=LAWS+&QUERYDATA=@SLLAB0A25-B+&LIST=SEA196+&BROWSER=EXPLORER+&TOKEN=24198078+&TARGET=VIEW.

NYSIF’s “Notice to Policyholders..”: http://ww3.nysif.com/AboutNYSIF/NYSIFNews/2010/Notice%20to%20PH%20-%20Construction%20Fair%20Play%20Act.aspx

One way to regain that as-needed office support is through an insured administrative and bookkeeping company such as P.K. Services Inc.  We will provide you with a SIF Certificate of Insurance so that you have one less thing to worry about.