Required to Arrive at Work Early

[terryk]

My question involves independent contractors in the state of: california

my client is now requiring me to arrive at the job site ready to go 10 minutes early, with out pay. i work for an hourly wage. other independant contractors working for this client have failed to arrive on time so now he is requiring me to arrive early. is this legal?? tk

[LawResearcherMissy]

As long as you're not required to start working before punching in, yes.

[PandorasBox]

Just about anyone with a job is required to arrive a few minutes early so they are on time....it's called responsibility.....time to arrive on site, time to allow for traffic delays....

Hate to tell ya...but when an employer wants you there at 7:00....they want you at the time clock/check in area at 7:00.....

[jk]

if you are required to be at work before your start time, they must pay you. Once they express such control over you, you are on their time.

[PattyPA]

Wait a minute. Wage and hour laws do NOT apply to nonemployees (independent contractors).

Without addressing the question of whether or not you are misclassified as an IC (contract agreeing to such notwithstanding), as you presented the issue, this is 100% a function of your contract.

[terryk]

my client has just issued me a new contract which is why i am making this inquiry. i can accept this contract or not have the client.

[PattyPA]

Yes, that is your choice.

[SChinFChin]

My question involves independent contractors in the state of: california

my client is now requiring me to arrive at the job site ready to go 10 minutes early, with out pay. i work for an hourly wage. other independant contractors working for this client have failed to arrive on time so now he is requiring me to arrive early. is this legal?? tk

I pay subcontractors at the Senior Center where I handle finances. We use about 15 different subcontractors to play music, run yoga classes, teach ESL etc.. All but 3 of them come at least 10 minutes early to get ready. Usually, they get there 20 to 30 minutes early to account for traffic, finding parking, get dressed, and getting themselves together.

Of the remaining 3, one of them as an example, teaches a dance class. He lives 15 minutes away, and always leaves the house 15 minutes before his 1:00PM dance class.

What normally happened was with a local road contruction project, finding parking, he rolls in at 1:15 to 1:20. Then, another 10 minutes to get himself ready, and by then, it's 1:30PM.

The problem with our members is they pay a $1.00 contribution for their advertised 1:00PM dance class, and by 1:30, most of these folks have come by to ask for refunds, because they have things to do after 2:00PM, when they expect the class to finish.

Members had told us that a 1:00PM dance class means the dance instructor shows up at 1:00PM, and they don't want to hear anything about him taking 10 minutes for preparation.

We spoke to him about it, and his position is if we want to pay for the traffic congestion, and prep time, we can pay an extra 30 minutes. Our problem?? We can't keep this as a secret deal, and before long, all the other subcontractors who make sure they come on time, come early to do their prep would want to know why we're paying this "new guy", who started over a year ago, and take them for granted. And we are in no position to increase everyones' compensation by 30 minutes each, just to suit 3 people who for whatever reason, can't start on time.

So the plan now is to wait for 2 more performances, we will not be demanding that he come early to do his prep, but if he can't start at 1:00PM, we know members would be asking for refunds, and we would have to tell him that we are going for a replacement "dance instructor". We don't care how good he is.

Our position is that by and large, the majority of subcontractors consider prep time not to be paid for, for they factor it into their prices, so why should we continue with subcontractors who cannot conform to the normal practices?? It's like most Chinese takeouts in our area include a soup or soda with their lunch special, and one guy doesn't for the same prices, so why should I patronize the only one who doesn't include soda??? I would even feel stupid doing it.

Bottomline, the contractors who won't factor in prep time won't be with us for too long.

Now, if you are saying that you are the only one they picked out to impose the requirment, what I see is that they don't value what you do for whatever reason, and they consider the others make a better contribution. We have a dance instructor who's been with us over 20 years, but attendance in her class had dwindled to sometimes just 10 students, only 6 a few weeks ago. Most of the other classes attracts 20 to 50 students, often more.

We're paying her $10/hour less, and more demanding, and since we're keeping her more as a favor to her, but we feel we could do better with dance instructors with a more modern repetoire. So if she squawks about why she's paid $10/hour less, and our complaining about her being late (sometimes), we'll simply tell her to go somewhere where she is in greater demand.

From the business standpoint, other than not letting her go, we see no reason why we should treat someone who only attracts 6 to 10 students per class, the same as compared to others who can attract easily 50 to 100 students. Putting it differently, we should've let her go long ago and be done with it.

[Baystategirl]

My question involves independent contractors in the state of: california

my client is now requiring me to arrive at the job site ready to go 10 minutes early, with out pay. i work for an hourly wage. other independant contractors working for this client have failed to arrive on time so now he is requiring me to arrive early. is this legal?? tk

Is this client the same person you are defending for child porn in your other thread?

[KeyWestDan]

I hope you are getting paid $20 an hour or more. If not you are getting ripped as an independent contractor.

If you are an independent contractor and the employer is requiring you to be at work at specific times, then it is highly suspect that you are in fact an employee. There are a number of tests for independent contractors.

As an independent contractor, taxes are not withheld. The employer is not making any contribution to your social security, he is not paying into unemployment compensation, and he probably does not have any workmans comp insurance either.