I have worked for a startup company for the past 10 months. I was originally hired as an independent contractor for one off gigs. About two months into the position, the role morphed into far more than I signed up for and began to take on the duties of an employee, but without any of the actual benefits of being one. They gave me a leadership position within the company, while I continued to pay thousands in self employment taxes each quarter because of the misclassification.
The possibility of coming on as an employee was dangled in front of my face several times throughout the past 10 months. But when it became clear they would keep exploiting me as an “independent contractor“ for as long as I was willing to accept it, I asked to have a discussion with my boss. I did not ask for more money. I did not ask for a full time position. I simply asked to be made a W2 employee and let him know that under the labor laws in my state, the work I had been doing would not be considered one of an “independent contractor“. Rather than bring me on, he chose to eliminate my position entirely, claiming they would be using other services for my role and no longer had the budget to keep me. I was given less than two weeks notice that my contract would end at the end of the month.
My boss is as stupid and slimey as they come. He continues to make horrible decisions for the company that cause massive losses of money. One part of my job was to oversee photographers. Against my advice, he continued to hire the absolute worst and most unqualified candidates for each project. Each time, the work that came back was horrible or outright unusable and thousands of dollars were sent down the drain.
I introduced him to people who actually knew what they were doing and could become great assets to the company, but he shut these people out, refused to take their advice, and continues to sink more and more money into more and more failed projects because he simply won‘t listen to reason. He has also been warned about potential lawsuits that may be filed because of the company’s refusal to make certain aspects of the media on their website accessible to those with disabilities. He chose to disregard that and carry on anyway. It’s not a matter of “if“ they will be filed, but when.
I just saw the work for yet another unqualified photographer I warned him not to hire. Most of it is not useable. Thousands of dollars lost yet again. I am laughing my head off as I watch this company crash and burn. A founder or CEO who refuses to listen to reason and doesn’t value the people who did good work for them is someone I take joy in seeing fail.