There are many different kinds of independent contractors, and not all of them are like the construction industry. Taxi cab drivers are independent contractors, and are rarely able to contract lease with more than one cab company. Cosmetologists are usually booth renting independent contractors and usually cannot booth rent at more than one location. Signing a contract to allow yourself to be leased onto a specific carrier, even to the exclusion of all others, in no way affects the independent contractor status.
Simply put, an employee is anyone who performs services for an employer if the employer can control what will be done and how it will be done.
Independent contractors are defined so that the payer or employer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work done, and not the means and methods of accomplishing the result.
Details of how things other than means and methods are to be done are outside of the independent contractor classification, and may be dealt with via contract or mutually agreed to policies.
There are certainly some similarities between expediting and a franchise, but the key differences are things like in a franchise, the "book" not only tells you what to do, but how to do it. In expediting the carrier cannot dictate to an independent contractor how to do much of anything, only that the result must be there. How you accomplish the result is up to you. They cannot dictate things like how to secure the freight, what speeds to drive, what routing to take, etc. They most definitely cannot dictate to you where to go and when to be there. A load offer is just that, an offer, not a mandate. If you agree to the terms of the load offer, then you are bound by those term, including where to go and when to be there. But they were not dictated to you, only offered to you. You have the option to either renegotiate the terms, or reject them outright, just like any other independent contractor.
As for having your contract canceled by some carriers after being OOS for a month or more, that all depends on what is in the contract you signed with the carrier. If you signed it, then you agreed to it. But it doesn't necessarily mean you are an employee for merely agreeing to that particular provision.
If you want to lease on to several carriers at the same time, well, first recognize what the term "lease" means, then apply it with respect to running under several authorities at the same time. When you lease on with a carrier, you are literally transfering the right to possession and/or use of goods or equipment (your truck) for a term in return for consideration. The only way you can do that with multuple carriers is to get your own authority and then contract out, not lease, your goods and services to whomever will pay you for them on a job-by-job basis.
Simply put, an employee is anyone who performs services for an employer if the employer can control what will be done and how it will be done.
Independent contractors are defined so that the payer or employer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work done, and not the means and methods of accomplishing the result.
Details of how things other than means and methods are to be done are outside of the independent contractor classification, and may be dealt with via contract or mutually agreed to policies.
There are certainly some similarities between expediting and a franchise, but the key differences are things like in a franchise, the "book" not only tells you what to do, but how to do it. In expediting the carrier cannot dictate to an independent contractor how to do much of anything, only that the result must be there. How you accomplish the result is up to you. They cannot dictate things like how to secure the freight, what speeds to drive, what routing to take, etc. They most definitely cannot dictate to you where to go and when to be there. A load offer is just that, an offer, not a mandate. If you agree to the terms of the load offer, then you are bound by those term, including where to go and when to be there. But they were not dictated to you, only offered to you. You have the option to either renegotiate the terms, or reject them outright, just like any other independent contractor.
As for having your contract canceled by some carriers after being OOS for a month or more, that all depends on what is in the contract you signed with the carrier. If you signed it, then you agreed to it. But it doesn't necessarily mean you are an employee for merely agreeing to that particular provision.
If you want to lease on to several carriers at the same time, well, first recognize what the term "lease" means, then apply it with respect to running under several authorities at the same time. When you lease on with a carrier, you are literally transfering the right to possession and/or use of goods or equipment (your truck) for a term in return for consideration. The only way you can do that with multuple carriers is to get your own authority and then contract out, not lease, your goods and services to whomever will pay you for them on a job-by-job basis.
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