To the Editor:
This lawsuit is partly about whether the individuals being sued by The Villages were actually employees or Independent Contractors. The Villages have contracts with these individuals saying they are Independent Contractors but the IRS states, “In determining whether the person providing services is an employee or an independent contractor, all information that provides evidence of the degree of control and independence must be considered.”
There are facts that provide evidence of the degree of control and independence. Behavioral, does the company control or have the right to control what the worker does and how the worker does the job. Financial, are the business aspects of the worker’s job controlled by the payer like whether expenses are reimbursed and tools to do their job supplied and lastly type of relationship like written contracts or benefits or is the work performed a key aspect of the business? Each party should have filed IRS Form SS-8 to get the IRS to make that determination. The big issue is the payment of employment taxes if the IRS determined the people being sued were employees. That would involve back payments and penalties.
Frank Marshall
Village of Osecola Hills
