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Equifax used records it collects from companies to fire employees with 2nd jobs

businessinsider.com

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Re: Equifax used records it collects from companies to fire employees with 2nd jobs

#41
post #19

Do you want shitty publicity? Because this is how you get shitty publicity.

This is just the kind of publicity that will have their customers call Equifax up and have them sift through their own payrolls to find employees to fire.

Re: Equifax used records it collects from companies to fire employees with 2nd jobs

#42

"Equifax flagged 283 contractors for potential 'dual employment,' documents show." Would this not be a big flag to reclassify these contractors as employees? Being able to have multiple clients is one of the factors to determine if you're a contractor...

Good to know. I’m a contractor and am just starting my own business separate from my main contracting role. Was curious what precedent there is for this dynamic

Edit: I was under the impression being a contractor would give one flexibility to do whatever they want when they’re not billing hours, depends on the contract wording of course

Re: Equifax used records it collects from companies to fire employees with 2nd jobs

#44
I wondered about this exact risk as I learned about the "overemployed" phenomenon. It feels like a matter of time before credit bureaus offer this as a service to the many corps that already pay them for credit checks. It's hard to be legitimately employed without a data trail these days.

Re: Equifax used records it collects from companies to fire employees with 2nd jobs

#45

"Equifax flagged 283 contractors for potential 'dual employment,' documents show." Would this not be a big flag to reclassify these contractors as employees? Being able to have multiple clients is one of the factors to determine if you're a contractor...

In the UK there's a set of criteria (IR35) that attempt to codify the distinction. The hiring business has to make the assessment.

One of criteria is right to subcontract and freedom to work with multiple clients.

If they get it wrong, they're liable for taxes, not the Contractor.

HMRC, the UK tax body is responsible for this, and therefore it is an utter mess in practice and has had chilling effects on the UK IT consulting market.

Re: Equifax used records it collects from companies to fire employees with 2nd jobs

#47

"Equifax flagged 283 contractors for potential 'dual employment,' documents show." Would this not be a big flag to reclassify these contractors as employees? Being able to have multiple clients is one of the factors to determine if you're a contractor...

The article says that they don’t know if any contractors were terminated; they only know about employees.

They could terminate them if they could show that the contractors were faking the hours.

Re: Equifax used records it collects from companies to fire employees with 2nd jobs

#48

"Equifax flagged 283 contractors for potential 'dual employment,' documents show." Would this not be a big flag to reclassify these contractors as employees? Being able to have multiple clients is one of the factors to determine if you're a contractor...

Yeah, I'd love for someone who is familiar with this to weigh in. I was under the impression that this was one of the features that defines contractors.

Re: Equifax used records it collects from companies to fire employees with 2nd jobs

#49

I wondered about this exact risk as I learned about the "overemployed" phenomenon. It feels like a matter of time before credit bureaus offer this as a service to the many corps that already pay them for credit checks. It's hard to be legitimately employed without a data trail these days.

>It feels like a matter of time before credit bureaus offer this as a service to the many corps that already pay them for credit checks.

Not only does it exist, Equifax itself offers this as a service, Equifax's offering is called The Work Number.

You can access your record here - https://employees.theworknumber.com/?_ga=2.101852741.5983227...

From the article -

>For a company like Equifax, this trends represents a potential business opportunity. The company sells a product called Talent Report Employment Monitoring so other companies can keep tabs on potential moonlighting by their employees, too.

Re: Equifax used records it collects from companies to fire employees with 2nd jobs

#50

"Equifax flagged 283 contractors for potential 'dual employment,' documents show." Would this not be a big flag to reclassify these contractors as employees? Being able to have multiple clients is one of the factors to determine if you're a contractor...

In the UK there's a set of criteria (IR35) that attempt to codify the distinction. The hiring business has to make the assessment. One of criteria is right to subcontract and freedom to work with multiple clients. If they get it wrong, they're liable for taxes, not the Contractor. HMRC, the UK tax body is responsible for this, and therefore it is an utter mess in practice and has had chilling effects on the UK IT con…

The US tax authority (IRS) has a similar set of rules; if you can set your hours and working conditions and have your own equipment or tools it justifies not being an employee. There are of course important corner conditions like hiring a contractor who operates some machine you own.

In general, though some people prefer to be contractors, these rules are in place because some employers try to classify de facto employees as contractors to avoid paying taxes or providing required benefits. Google, FB etc have complex contractor rules for their third party contractor agencies to steer clear of that and make sure they save on taxes and benefits.

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