Re: Employee vs. SubContractor -- CONSULT400

See below

"Kenneth H. Werner" wrote:
>
<<snip>>
>
> The difference between employee and subcontractor is not a matter of
> taxes, liability for work product, copyright owner or how much you are
> supervised.
>

Ken,

I respect your view on your relationship you have with your clients, er
partners, but, IMHO, a business knows that in the final decision it boils down
to taxes, liability, copyright, work freedom and all of the costs and gains,
both financial and emotional, that come with that decision.

Having said that, I believe that the first question that anyone facing this
decision must ask themselves is -if- they can live with the explicit uncertainty
in their income vs the self induced illusion of job security as the original
posters story indicates.

It has been my observation that most, not all, W2 status workers do not do well
as contractors.  It's a different mind set.  Not everyone can make that
transition.  Ask yourself how you felt about having your hours and pay cut
because of a situation that your employer found themselves in.  Did you view
this as a problem in your life or as just another day at work which resulted in
freeing you up to pursue other opportunities?

Since the employer has asked you to consider changing to contractor status, I
doubt that they would be willing to pay you your former full time pay plus the
benefits that you had received should you become a contractor.

This means that you will need to obtain another (or more) contracts to make up
the difference.  It also could mean that your employer plans on stiffing you
because by law they -have- to pay a W2 employee, they can argue against value
received when it comes to paying a vendor.

But anyway, sooner or later, projects wind down and you will be faced with the
continuing job seeking that contracting requires.  Some people do not like
spending a life time of interviewing for jobs and prefer a W2 status so they
only have to do it every 3 - 5 years or so.

BTW, as a contractor, I believe that if I have done my job right I am no longer
needed.  I may be wanted, but not needed.

There are other personality traits that you have to ask yourself if you
possess.  Such as, do you have the discipline to save money that you may have to
draw upon between contracts?

Since, as a contractor, the client (or partner as Ken calls them) can not
dictate your hours or place of work, are you self motivated enough to work
without immediate supervision?

As Ken indicated, the relationship you have with your employer does go beyond
legal status.  The legal status issues are easy to solve.  It has a finite sets
of rules.  The personal issues that you will face are not that cut and dry.  And
I believe they should be the first issues addressed.

Good luck,
J. Kilgore