I have been confused of my status for over a year now and need help with certain terms. I was hired on as an "Independent Contractor" in March 2005 but have heard conflicting statements regarding that term. I'm told that Independent Contractors do not punch a time clock or get paid hourly, which I have done up until a month ago. I was hired as Admin Asst but promoted to Office Mgr after seven months, with a .50cent raise per hour, all based on my excellent performance. I am one of 4 other employees who punch a time clock and we are given designated hours of 9am-5pm Mon-Fri, which I'm told is also not a requirement of Independent Contractors. I have researched your forums and tried to find answers to my questions, but don't think I've nailed it yet. You have asked several others for job duties, so here is a summary of mine (as my Position Description is actually 4 full pages long). I am responsible for the training of new administrative and sales employees, as well as conducting interviews for new staff. I am responsible for supervising office staff and performing payroll, collections, A/R and A/P duties. I report to the owner of this publishing company and provide assistance to him, to our sales rep and also our production dept. I have worked over 40 hours since the first week and asked to be put on salary, as I was told during my interview the "1099 thing will be temporary, definitely everyone will be on payroll status by the end of the year (2005) and health benefits provided". This has not happened so I asked to be on salary, based on my hours worked and performance. So now I'm told my new salary is "$12.50 per hour, but based on no more than 40 hours per week". Am I getting the shaft here? Also, when we are reimbursed for expenses such as stamps, office supplies, fuel, etc that we have paid out of our own pockets, I am told to list on our paystub as CONTRACT LABOR, and last year when I received my 1099-misc, that was included as my wages earned and I had to pay taxes on those expenses AGAIN! Is that legal? So now that I'm on salary and was ing almost as many hours as when I was hourly, I'm actually losing about $300 per paycheck, although because of that I have cut back my own hours considerably. Everyone around me has gotten $2 per hour raises and making more than I am, including the new girl who just came from a temp agency. I know part of the problem is it being a family run business and since the daughter came on board last November, everything has gone downhill and special privelges have been imposed (such as her being paid for working from home, which was actually wrapping Christmas gifts). Whatever the case, I know he can do as he pleases when it comes to family, but the job is becoming unbearable and I think I'm being sabotaged to resign, and although I'm looking elsewhere, I'd like to know my rights. I was also told that if fired, I could file for unemployment since I'm not technically an Independent Contractor. Another detail to point out, some of the office staff was forced to sign a non-compete agreement; is that legal if we are truly Independent Contractors?
Any advice you can give would be appreciated, because I have researched some of the links you've provided and just not sure where I stand.
Thanks!

Based on the first couple of sentences, I could answer your concerns but, honestly, that huge block o' text is VERY hard to read. If you would edit your post with some paragraphs and white space, I think you'll get more responses.