Help, the Auditors are Coming!: Audit Your Independent Contractors Before the Government Does
Distinguishing between independent contractors and employees has never been an easy task for employers. While the consequences for getting it wrong have always been significant, the stakes just got higher. The federal government has allocated $25 million and 100 new investigators to detect and deter inappropriately classified independent contractors, an effort projected to raise $7 billion from employers over the next decade. Refresh your understanding of the rules regarding classification, understand how penalties are calculated, get practical how-to's to help you establish whether someone is truly a contractor, and learn how to perform an internal audit to shore up your practices—before you get a costly knock on the door.
Learning Objectives:
- A detailed review of the various government agency rules regarding classification of independent contractors versus employees.
- An explanation of how audits are triggered and how penalties are calculated.
- Practices for hiring and managing independent contractors that help ensure compliance.
- How to perform an internal audit.
- How to correct misclassification of individuals.
Lauraine Bifulco
Two themes are woven throughout Lauraine Bifulco's diverse career: a passion for a job well done and a zest for continual learning and improvement. Lauraine infuses Vantaggio HR with these qualities every day. When she founded the firm in 1994, Lauraine combined her rare talent in understanding what a client needs and her gift of business foresight to create a company that can service the HR and management consulting needs of small and large companies equally well. Today, Vantaggio serves clients across the country from their offices in California, Hawaii, Colorado, and New York.
Her Career experience helps employers realize their HR goals and adapt to the shifting HR landscape. Lauraine is a veteran HR executive and entrepreneur with 25 years of international, corporate, and consulting experience. Her bold career has taken her to employment and business opportunities in Europe and multiple U.S. cities. She serves as co-chair of the California Small Business Administration's committee on Labor Issues which reviews and makes recommendations on pending labor/employment laws, keeping her abreast of legal developments.
Delivering over 30 presentations and webinars each year, Lauraine is a well-respected, and highly sought after guest lecturer and speaker on a variety of business management and HR-related topics for both state and national organizations including Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Professionals in Human Resources Association (PIHRA), American Payroll Association (APA), Next Concept HR Association (NCHRA), Paylocity annual Elevate Conference, and HR Star Conference to name a few. She has been invited to review, develop, and deliver certificate programs for SHRM, and has developed and delivered curriculum for businesses throughout the U.S.
Lauraine received a bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College and conducted graduate level studies in linguistics at the Sorbonne in Paris.