Hello everyone! I have some questions regarding the employment practices of my previous employer.

to give the background information; here goes:

I worked for a security firm, and this is basically what it was all about...
*we were all private sub-contractors
*we were liable for paying our own city/state/federal taxes
*we received straight hourly pay for hours over 40 worked (i was always scheduled 50)
*we had to pay 100% into our BWC certificates.
*we were required to give 30 day notices or wouldn't receive our final paycheck


as luck would have it, he is holding a thousand dollar check on me for not immediately returning a jacket. my question basically is, are any of his practices legal? i did some research of my own (albeit on the internet, hard to find a reliable source) and found that private contractors "cant" have a set schedule for more than 90 days; by then they should receive all the benefits of an employee.

My employer did this as a way to save money on his taxes, but is destroying his employees. please help???