Withholding Pay Leads To Lawsuit For Google

The line between independent contractors and employees is often muddled, resulting in employers misclassifying workers and consequently, not paying them correctly. Other times, the position is perfectly defined but workers can still suffer unfair treatment.

Both issues occur in companies across the nation. Even some as big as Google.

In fact, Google and another agency – Urpan Technologies - are currently being sued by former contract employees in a class action suit claiming the search engine giant withheld pay.

Recruiters claimed they regularly worked overtime, with some days clocking in at 12 hours. Recruitment work often calls for working longer days, but Google and UrpanTech didn’t accurately track these hours. Ultimately, some recruiters weren’t paid their proper compensation and one was fired for causing a scene.

Another plaintiff from a resolved 2014 case stated Google knowingly didn’t classify correctly as an independent contractor, then didn’t pay his overtime. He too was fired, after asking for more hours to be added to his contract.

Independent contractors and other contract employees can add value to a business, but they must be treated with respect, too. Read more about the case against Google here, or read more about employee classification here.