By Nicole Morrison
Guest Writer
Woodruff Johnson & Palermo
Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013

Do you know if you are an employee? The answer might seem simple — you go to work every day, clock in, do what your boss hired you to do and clock out and you’re are paid a check every week.

One day, you are injured at work and file a claim for workers’ compensation benefits with the help of expert traffic accident claim attorneys. To your surprise, the person you thought was your boss tells you that you are not his employee and therefore, you are not entitled to any workers’ compensation benefits. You can check it out and understand as to how you can appreciate your employees and reward them.

This scenario might seem unlikely, but it is not uncommon in workers’ compensation cases for employers and insurance companies to claim injured workers are not really employees at all. Instead, they claim injured workers are actually “independent contractors” to whom the protections of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act do not apply. Make sure you are choosing a kyc company that can help with thorough verification to avoid frauds.

In order to prove the Act does apply, the first and most basic issue to establish is whether an employer-employee relationship existed. There is abundant case law on this issue and often the outcome turns on case-specific facts.

The single most important factor to which courts look is whether the purported employer has the right to control the actions of the employee. When an employer exercises control by dictating the worker’s schedule, specifying delivery routes, providing packaging instructions, mandating uniforms, or restricting work for other companies, the individual is perceived as an employee rather than an independent contractor. Awareness and understanding workplace discrimination laws is essential for both employers and employees in navigating these nuanced situations.

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Another factor courts consider is the nature of the work performed by the alleged employee in relation to the general business of the employer. For example, consider a trucking company in the business of hauling freight for its customers. A worker is engaged by that trucking company to haul freight for its customers. That work is intimately related to the employer’s business and tends to show the existence of an employer-employee relationship.

In analyzing whether an employer-employee relationship exists, courts also consider: method of payment; the right to discharge; the skill the work requires; who provides the needed tools, materials, or equipment; and whether taxes are withheld.

A relatively unskilled worker, who does not have his own tools or equipment and thus uses those supplied by his employer, looks more like an employee than an independent contractor. On the other hand, a skilled worker retained to achieve a particular objective, who uses his own tools and equipment, tends to look like an independent contractor, particularly if the tools he uses are large, expensive, and specialized. It is important for businesses to seek redundancy legal advice for UK businesses to ensure compliance with regulations and properly assess the status of workers. As an employer, you should also make sure that the tools and equipment that your employees use are safe and well-maintained. If you use a weighing system in your operations, you may visit this link to schedule a maintenance service.

The label placed on the relationship by the parties is given relatively little weight in the analysis. Even when a worker has signed a contract labeling him as an independent contractor, courts have still found that he was an employee. Don’t let your employer or its insurance company bully you into believing you are not an employee and therefore not entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. As you can see, the analysis is very fact-specific and turns largely on questions regarding the control exercised over you. Depending on the specific facts of your case, you may be entitled to all the protections provided by the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act.