Was told that if we got into an accident that the fleet owner could get sued.
This is what our Fleet Mgr. sent out to the drivers:
Some of you may not be aware that as of this writing there are four states that don't recognize an Independent Contractor agreement. Therefore, these states view any drivers that would potentially join our fleet as employees and as such entitled to all of the government benefits that larger companies are required to pay into. Because of this we cannot hire or retain people from the states of California, Nevada, West Virginia, or North Carolina.
Yeah, no. Somebody learned a little bit of information and got spooked. That's not really true. It is true, however, of those employers who try and classify employees as independent contractors and boss them around like employees, to get out of paying payroll taxes and worker's compensation (which, frankly, sounds like what that fleet owner is wanting to do), but in the 4 states listed above, all recognize an Independent Contractor Agreement under common law.
In the four states above specifically, and in all states generally, if there is an on-the-job injury the courts will look past how the parties have designated the relationship to the actual facts of the case to determine whether the worker is actually an employee. And what they look at is the typical stuff regarding the freedom of the independent contractor (or employee) to pick and choose, whether they get paid by the job or the piece, free to chose their own time of work, freedom to say no without being discharged, and, most importantly, the degree of control exercised by the employer. In other words, if the employer treats you like an employee, tell you want to do, how to do it and when to do it, you're an employee, regardless of in what state you or the fleet owner resides. If it looks, walks, acts and quacks like an employee, it's a duck.
Occupational Accident Insurance exists primarily as a means of classifying independent contractors as such, rather than as employees and thus having to pay for Worker's Compensation Insurance, and to limit or prevent liability on the part of the employer from being sued for damages due to on the job injuries.