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in the past I worked for a time, and out of desperation, as a cable TV installer and as a limo driver. Oh, and as delivery driver. The cable TV thing was a huge cockup when the local cable company decided to save money by firing its installers and hiring an outside contractor. Most of the installers were ex-employees, with a few like me brought on for a rebuild. We worked for a month as unpaid trainees and then we had to incorporate and find liability and comp insurance. Gross pay tended to average about $600 a week, less whatever taken out for the tools we had to buy. That didn't last long. Shortly after I left, I noticed the "Cable TV Contractor" trucks were replaced by Cablevision trucks. The limo companies mostly paid on the books, but two I know of paid you as IC's. Both got in big trouble, with one owner going to jail for various reasons, mainly bribing county officials, and the other one in Federal tax hell but I don't know how it ended up. Pure scam-- no way could you be considered an independant when you worked 60-80 hours a week for them and used their car, but they kept it up for years.
Having a van, I picked up some delivery jobs here and there, which were legitimate 1099 work, but many outfits tried to keep you around all day without putting you on the clock while you waited for work, or putting you on the books when you got some. They were pretty close to the line, if not crossing it.
Did do some serious consulting, writing, and other stuff over the years, but that's all legitimate freelance work.
Bottom line-- make no mistake abut it, employers are often trying to reduce labor costs by redefining "employees" and using contractors and temps to do the work. There are consulting firms out there making good money showing them exactly how to do it.
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