Today’s employees consider more factors than any previous generation when seeking a new position, reports Timothy Singhel. Issues such as healthcare coverage options and whether or not an employee wanted to be an independent contractor weren’t really questioned just a decade ago.
According to Timothy Singhel, an attorney with many years of expertise in labor and employment law, there are a number of factors that could influence a person’s decision on where and how they want to work. Take for instance the legalization of same-sex marriage. Some employers have chosen to drop healthcare coverage altogether to avoid having to provide insurance to same-sex partners. Today, a freely-out and legally married workforce of LGBT citizens must consider their company’s environment and whether or not it is hostile to private lifestyle choices, says Timothy Singhel. Although the Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, a majority of states still have laws that make it easy for LGBT Americans to be denied basic civil rights and workplace equality. Even with the federal government stepping in through rulings by the EEOC making it more difficult to discriminate against employees with alternate lifestyles, workers in many states are still faced with a challenging landscape.
Another question employees tend to ask these days is whether or not they have the option of functioning as an independent contractor versus an employee. Timothy Singhel explains that many millennials might prefer independent contractor status for its perceived freedom and mobility as opposed to a salaried worker locked in to set hours at a set location and benefits they may or may not use. However, there are many legal considerations at play here, that I will not expound upon at length. In short, there have been a several recent regulations and legal interpretations issued by the federal government and several states, including in tax withholding, labor relations, wage and hour law and other areas that are re-defining and cementing the boundaries between independent contractor and employee status. Increasingly, far more is determined by the law and far less is up to individual choice.
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