The term “independent contractor” is often misused in our industry. Sometimes a booth renter will mistakenly refer to herself as an independent contract, but the two are quite different. Neither are employees, but a booth renter pays rent to the salon owner, whereas a salon owner pays a fee to an independent contractor.
Sometimes a salon owner will mislabel an employee as an independent contractor. According to Ken Cassidy, president of Kassidy’s Management Consulting Company in Long Beach, Calif., people in an independent contract position generally do not provide regular, ongoing services at a single location. They usually provide services for only a short period of time and have no set schedule. “A common mistake we see in the beauty industry is categorizing someone who is actually an employee as an independent contractor to avoid tax responsibilities and reduce operating overhead,” says Cassidy. “If the IRS and the state find these people are actually employees,