How Many Different Kinds of Employment Are There?
There are many ways to define and classify employees. An employer may also hire an independent contractor (who’s not an employee) to perform work. How you’re labeled can impact your pay and benefits, and it’s common for employers to misclassify their workforce, either intentionally or mistakenly. If your position has one of these labels, make sure you’re adequately paid.
If you believe a current or former employer misclassified your employment status, the MBJ Law Group can help. Call the Tustin employee misclassification attorneys at our employment law firm today at (949) 266-0880 or complete our confidential contact form to learn more.
Types of Employees
Employment can be described in the following ways:
1. Full-Time Employee
Under California law, a full-time employee works at least 40 hours weekly. Under the federal Affordable Care Act, full-time employment is 30 hours a week. If your employer has 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employees, they must offer them and their dependents affordable/minimum-value medical coverage, or the employer may be subject to penalties.
Many employers offer full-time employees benefits like 401k contributions, health insurance, and life insurance to help attract job applicants and retain employees. That’s usually dependent on working their definition of full-time. If they state that means 40 hours/week, to limit how many people get those benefits, they can legally, if unethically, have people work up to 40 hours/week.
2. Part-Time Employee
A part-time employee is not working full-time. Though you may not qualify for your employer’s full-time benefits package, you (like full-time employees) can accrue paid leave and obtain workers’ compensation benefits if you’re injured on the job. You may collect unemployment compensation benefits, depending on why you lost your job. Depending on your work schedule, you may also qualify for meal periods and rest breaks. An on-call worker who works as needed and without a regular schedule would be considered a part-time employee if they work less than 40 hours in a week.
3. Contract Employee
A contract employee is generally considered one with a definite end date to their work. If they’re a full-time employee, they should get the same benefits as others working full-time, but that may not be the case under the contract terms. The employer is free to include perks and benefits not available to others to entice the person to work a limited, not open-ended, period.
Full and part-time employees may need to sign various contracts to keep their jobs, but that won’t make them contract employees. This can include the following agreements:
- Non-disclosure: You can’t tell others certain job-related information
- Arbitration: You must bring work-related legal disputes (with exceptions) to arbitration, not file a lawsuit in state or federal court
- Non-solicitation: You can’t contact the company’s customers and ask them to be a customer of your or your new employer, or you can’t contact employees to hire them or to recruit them for your new employer
It would be illegal for a California employer to require you to sign a non-compete agreement prohibiting you from working for your employer’s competition. For expert advice on this and other employment matters, consider consulting with an employment law firm in California.
4. Temporary Employee
These employees could be hired by the employer or work through an employment lawyer in Anaheim or agency. They’re typically used to handle a sudden increase in work or to fill a role that’s vacant temporarily because someone left the employer or is on leave or vacation. There need not be a set limit on when the person is no longer needed. Some employers use a temporary job label to screen job applicants and may hire one if they’re happy with the person’s work.
Temporary employees qualify for benefits and protections under California law just as others do. Discrimination and misclassification issues can come up in these situations. If an employer tells an agency they don’t want to use workers of a certain race (for example) or wants one removed from their workforce for that reason and the agency complies, they may both have violated the law. An employer could also illegally deny benefits to temporary workers that they treat as their own employees.
5. Intern
A nonprofit or government agency can use volunteer labor, but a for-profit organization cannot. A bona fide apprenticeship program can be paid or unpaid, as can an internship. However, what an intern does should be meant to educate and benefit them and provide them with credits towards a degree. An unpaid intern who performs an employee’s work without learning anything or gaining skills may have grounds to seek back pay as a misclassified employee.
Contact Our Tustin Employee Misclassification Lawyers Today
Misclassification can mean less pay, no benefits, and lost legal protections. A skilled MJB Law Group employment lawyer can help you pursue legal action against your current or past employer to hold them accountable and recover unpaid wages and benefits.
Don’t wait! Contact an experienced Tustin employee misclassification attorneys today to discuss your options and protect your interests. Call us today at (949) 266-0880 or fill out our confidential contact form for a FREE consultation and case evaluation.
