Independent Contractors are commonplace in the construction industry. The practice is encouraged by the need for specialized expertise or larger labor forces on particular projects. For these and other reasons, contractors often seek to engage independent contractors on a temporary basis in place of hiring full-time employees. The obvious benefit to this is that while hourly compensation rate for an independent contractor can exceed that on a full-time employee, the employer is not faced with the need to provide fridge benefits and can maintain a small workforce during downtime without the trauma that accompanies the discharge of employees no longer needed for a specific contract. The obvious downside to such an arrangement is that when an independent contractor is injured on the jobsite, he may not fall under a company’s Worker’s Compensation (“WC”) policy enabling that worker to seek recourse against the company through a personal injury lawsuit. Indeed, an injured worker employed by a temporary manpower agency (or his general employer) often files a claim for WC benefits under his general employer’s policy and then turns around and sues the construction outfit which was using his services on an independent contractor basis.
Read more . . .