I work remotely as a manager for a for a digital marketing company based in the US. I am the only US citizen working for the company, where there are less than 100 employees total.
I know based on my tax information that I am a contractor at the company, technically freelance. But the company CEO and COO insist on calling us all employees. They are enforcing hours and processes, giving strikes when someone doesn’t work on the weekends when they want, and the CEO pays salaries through his personal bank account. They also tried to not let us list our employment with the company on LinkedIns and it her socials.
When I brought it up (“I’m confused because on my tax documents it’s says xyz…”) they made us all sign a code of conduct that outlines all of this and insisted we were all employees. We don’t have any benefits or employment contracts.
It’s a very toxic and abusive work environment, and I’m looking for a new job now as I know I could get let go at any moment. As a US citizen, I want to be able to file for unemployment if I’m fired, but how can I do that if I’m listed as a contractor? Will the company get into trouble? Would I get any benefits from filing? Are they even operating illegally or just doing kind of shady stuff? Thanks!