The job- I was working in a lumber shop on this dudes property. The city he lives in has an ordinance: no more than 7 cars on the property because it’s illegal to run a business on your home property.
So he struck a deal with a nearby plant nursery to let us use their parking lot for the 25+ employees. Being in Michigan, this sucks in the winter because you’re trekking through snow and dense trees just to walk from the parking lot of this business to the yard of this dudes house.
Where things got weird as far as employment status-
1099 contractor meant no taxes taken out
BUT,
-We were constantly guilted into 40 hour weeks despite being recruited under a (work your own hours) ad. Also lectured in front of coworkers at meetings if you slacked on hours that week.
-We were incentivized to take OT and if you didn’t do OT you were harassed into doing it. Guilted by being blasted on Slack (app) in front of all of your coworkers.
-I volunteered for delivery drives that we’re not paid hourly. You were paid per delivery. ($100 for a 30 hour drive nonstop at one point). This was my tipping point of leaving by the way.
-Everyone working there used the dudes lumber equipment and machinery. Which, if you’re a 1099 employee you need to be supplying your own equipment. All of these things were happening on this dudes personal property under the disguise that he WASNT even operating a business there. I am wondering after all of this if I should file an SS8 form.
Side notes
-no proper ventilation especially when spraying lacquer coats
-no proper fire extinguishers in place
-no proper power installation (we kept blowing fuses with 25 employees working)
-no proper parking
-no communication (it was always yelling, threats and guilt trips) boss man even insulted my wife at one point.
The big kicker of this whole thing is that he bought a giant building in early 2022 and to celebrate, he brought a big bottle of booze into the home shop to take shots with everyone. Mind you, there are giant saws, blades, planers etc. And half the employees aren’t even drinking age but they drank anyway. I didn’t even take a shot.
I quit before the move into a proper industrial building and took a management job of a small business working directly for the owner. There are 4 employees. Life is much easier.