In August of this year 08 the advertising franchise that I work for as an independent contractor for over 7 years was sold. I was told that nothing would change at least till the end of the year. I did have a non-compete agreement with the previous owner. The new owner changed the operating name after buying the company. I started getting concerned when 2 weeks after the sale I was told that my wife who was also hired as an independent contractor, would no longer be needed. She never was told that they were ending her contract; she was just never paid again.
My concern is that the new owner wants to change me from an independent contractor to an employee and change my payment and compensation plan.
Also I am afraid that he may just be trying to get me to quit so that he can take over my list of clients including the signed yearly contracts without paying me anything for them, and since I have a non-compete it may be difficult to make a living.

Even though I was diagnosed last November 07 with Parkinson’s disease I still managed to win 2nd place for sales in micro markets, in the US. I feel that his greed, and the fact that I have Parkinson’s, may be his motive for his actions.
Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Depends on your contract with the new owner. But yes, unless your contract is for a specific time frame with protections, they can change you back and forth any way they want.

To be specific, they inform you as of a certain date you will no longer be a contractor and then make you a job offer that you may accept or decline.

I worked for a company Mobility Products that switched us back and forth about 5 times over 4 years depending on who the sales manager was.