How to Blow up Your Business with Independent Contractors and Interns

By Nina Kaufman, Esq.

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You need the help and want to grow, but changes to minimum wage and salary laws make hiring employees really unattractive, don’t they? But independent contractors and interns come with their own minefields. How can you build and grow without hurting your wallet or breaking your bottom line?

On this episode, employment attorney Howard Matalon, Esq. shares how to walk that fine line so you can expand your business without expanding your liabilities.

How to Blow Up Your Business with Independent Contractors and Interns… BB070 Howard Matalon Profile Shot

  • Hire for non-core business reasons. An independent contractor is not an employee. They are skilled specialists hired for specific tasks outside of your core business–even with long-term assignments. They must be able to start and complete their work with little to no direction from you or other managers.
  • Screen for independence. Look for contractors who have their own business entity, advertise under their own brand, and work for multiple clients at any one time.
  • Protect against random audits. Most independent contractor audits hit the Department of Labor’s radar “innocently”–your contractor files for unemployment benefits after the project ends, or they were moonlighting when working for you. Avoid hiring people who need” you to “feed” them.
  • No such thing as a free … intern. In today’s world, internships have to be v-e-r-y carefully structured to get away with having them work for free. You need to focus more on giving them valuable training than getting their free labor. Want to keep it simple? Just pay them as a part-time employee.

Howard Matalon shares a lot of war stories of business owners whose companies blew up because they didn’t plan properly. Make sure you block out time to listen to this episode–so you can avoid their mistakes!

 

Howard Matalon is the Employment Practices partner of the law firm of Olender Feldman, based in Summit, NJ. He has twenty-five years of experience as a legal advisor offering practical, cost effective solutions in the area of Human Capital Management, a revolutionary, holistic approach to the field of employment law involving proactive assessment and a resolution of a wide range of legal issues relating to the employment lifecycle.  Howard has acted as trial counsel in litigation matters including worker status and classification, and routinely coach senior executives in their management of employment-related crisis situations.

FAVORITE QUOTE:

“Cynics are simply thwarted romantics”.~ William Goldman, The Princess Bride

INTERVIEW LINKS:

WEBSITE:  www.olenderfeldman.com
LINKED IN:  www.linkedin.com/in/HCMLegal

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About Nina Kaufman, Esq.