I have been working in an office behind the owners house for 2 months. I am getting paid with 1099. I quit my w-2 paying job to work here for more money. The owner likes to scream and curse at all of his employees and threaten to fire everyone on a daily basis if something happens. We are transportation brokers and trucks break down, drivers change their minds, and a lot of the time he will tell us there are loads ready that aren't even there. Then if any of those things happen the whole office gets cursed and screamed at. We live in a very small town and there are very few jobs. I feel like I am stuck because I know how hard it will be to find something else. Will I be able to get unemployment if I am 1099 and I quit for unbearable work conditions?

No. Unemployment is for employed wage earners; you are a contractor if you get a 1099. However, what he is doing is illegal under IRS rules. You should be getting wages and a W-2. He's paying you more because you will owe higher taxes. Consider consulting with the others in the office about quitting en masse, confronting him with demands, turning him in, or whatever you want - but be careful that you know what you are getting into.

And you don't get unemployment because you quit even with wages, except in some circumstances like the company moving far away, reducing your hours and or pay, etc. Yelling isn't grounds.

The employer is not following IRS rules for what constitutes an independent contractor/1099 employee.

You have a sort of "pay under the table" arrangement and, thus, no benefits. That includes no unemployment benefits.

That's the offset of being a 1099 - legally or otherwise.

The reason people see more money as a 1099 is that they don't hold taxes out, don't pay into unemployment and you are not covered under workers comp.

So no you can not get unemployment.

Also you need to be saving about 30 percent or more each check for taxes, since you will have to claim your income for taxes

Hello k:

Even though your present wages won't go towards your unemployment benefits, you very well may have wages from your previous job that DO count..

The only way to find out is to file your claim.

excon

If you quit ANY job chances are you won't get UE benefits. And the fact you don't have taxes taken out your chances slide done to none real quick.

You are an independent contractor. The trucking industry is rife with such owners who treat employees and drivers like dirt.

Start looking for something else as you sound like you don't have a though enough skin to stay with present abusive owners.

I worked at 2 trucking companies on the books and was treated like dirt by the first company and then slyly laid off by the second when biz was slow. Was a better employee than the retarded girl they kept but try to tell them that.

Fasten your seatbelt for a bumpy ride.

You are correct excon, I had forgotten she said that it has only been a couple months, but the issue here is that a 1099 is considered self employed, so they can't quit, they have to go out of business or lose their contract with the employing company. ( even if that contract is only verbal)

Normally they will have to go to work and be layoff or fired somewhere else before they can draw their unemployment.

Unless they can prove that the job should really be a W2 position and they are being improperly classified and paid