I am paid as contract labor, but am treated as an employee. Can my employeer do this?

Probally not. It's a very facts and circumstances intensive issue. I should point out "contract employee" is often a misnomer. One is either an employee or an independant contractor. Some employees may have written contracts, but they are still legally treated as employees (i.e. taxes are withheld)

The only definitive answer is from the IRS. For that you need to file Form SS-8 Determination of Worker Status for Purposes of Federal Employment Taxes and Income Tax Withholding (www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss8.pdf). The IRS applies a 20 factor test to determine your EE/IC status, and all the questions on the SS-8 are related to that. Your employer will be given a chance to respond before a determination is made. You should also ask your tax preparer about Form 8919 to pay your portion of the FICA taxes when it's time to file your taxes.

The joke around the office is that you only file Form SS-8 for your last job, as the IRS investigation almost always results in some retaliation against the employee. I am not aware of any protection for filing a SS-8, so I would suggest filing a minimum wage claim/overtime claim with the US DOL at the same time, no matter how flimsy the claim. That way you would have protection under 29 USC §215.

I am paid as contract labor, but am treated as an employee. Can my employeer do this?

What type of work do you do for what type of company?

And how exactly are they "treating you as an employee"?

I work for a (deleted). I make calls for an outside salesperson for appointments, so they can meet with companies and try to sell them computer equipment and software.
I have a team leader and manager I have to report too. The company has other employees doing the same thing I do, but they are in an office and are paid as employees. I have to attend meetings either in person or on a con call, the company provides training that I am required to attend just like the employees in the office. We have a minimum amount of calls we are required to make and if you do not, you get written up on. I am required to do the same thing as the employees in the office.

Sounds like an employee-employer relationship to me. Especially since you are supervising workers who are "employees". And you can be "written up". And for a number of other reasons.

I wonder if he can get ERISA involved...

Just to be sure that I understand, are you saying that you are paid on a 1099 basis, that the company is not withholding FICA, federal or state taxes?

They had me sign a contract stating that I am a consultant, but what consultant has a Team Leader they have to report too. I have to give notice when I am going to be out and for what reason (sick, doctor appt, personal, etc.) I do the same thing the others do, but I work from home.
Yes, they send me a 1099.

They had me sign a contract stating that I am a consultant.

Common practice, but legally meaningless. IRS uses something called a 20-factor test (see below). Federal DOL uses a variant of the older Common Law test, and state DOLs use whatever they use. It is fairly common for questionably classified independent contractors to file for unemployment benefits when the work relationship ends. This functionally forces state DOL to review the worker classification. You need to be very careful however that you personally are making the correct quarterly income tax and self employment tax deposits. IRS is perfectly capable of finding both the worker and the "employer" fully responsible for non-payment of taxes.

http://payroll-taxes.com/articles/art2.html

http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs13.htm

Sounds like an employee-employer relationship to me. Especially since you are supervising workers who are "employees". And you can be "written up". And for a number of other reasons.

I don't see where they are supervising other employees though they have a team leader & mgr. they have to report to.

Sounds like an employee-employer relationship to me, also.

I turned in a time sheet on December 21st, 2007, which was to be paid on December 31st, 2007. (they have always just sent my paycheck to my bank) On December 27th the outside rep. I worked with left the company. The owner of the company called me and said that I planned to leave the company also, and go with my outside rep. My outside rep. did not offer me a job and I told my current employer this. He than accused me of having lists of current clients and that I have been giving my old outside rep. information that he is not entitled to. I did have lists, but only the ones that they gave me to work with in order to perform my job. I emailed my employer the lists I had and than deleted them from my computer.
The contract I signed with my employer states that he or I have to give a 30 day written notice of termination. I asked my employer when he called to tell me, my outside rep. has left the company, if he was now giving me my 30 days notice. He just said he has to talk to his attorney first and he would get back to me on Friday (December 28th), my employer did not call.
So here I set not knowing if I have a job or not.
Also, if and when he is going to give me my paycheck that is owed to me.
How long do I have to wait to get my paycheck, before I contact someone about getting it? Who would I contact? Someone told me that my employer would owe me 3x my paycheck if he does not pay me what is owed. Is this true?
I am a single mother with 2 kids and live paycheck to paycheck.
Also, does my employer have to pay me for the days that I have been left in limbo on whether I have a job or not?

If you are not paid by the date that you ordinarily would have been paid, you can file a claim with the DOL. If you are paid shortly thereafter, little will result from this. This assumes you are an employee and not an IC. If you are an IC, you would need to file a civil suit or small claims suit to recover the funds.

Whether they must pay out the 30 day notice and even whether the 30 day notice is required is governed by the contract and only a lawyer who has reviewed it thoroughly can tell you that.