Papa's Got A Brand New Bag (James Brown, 1965) ...

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by SC Official

Just because college assigners have the flexibility to tell their officials what games they may not work doesn't make it right, or legal. Telling "independent contractors" who they can and cannot provide their services to and then saying "If you don't like it, I don't need you" is completely the opposite of what an independent contractor is supposed to be. I'm not expecting it to change, just calling out the hypocrisy. The IRS would have a field day with assigners that impose requirements like Rich mentioned, if an official really wanted to make a big deal about it.

I first became aware of basketball officials calling ourselves "independent contractors" when I first joined the Forum. I believe that my accountant classifies my officiating income as "self-employed", but I really don't pay to much attention to stuff like this, that's why I pay him to do my taxes.

In regard to our legal rights, and the legality of what assigners often do, and in regard to taxes, should we stop calling ourselves independent contractors, or are we fooling ourselves?

Many of us are not accountants, or lawyers, in our day jobs, are we "out of our league" discussing this? Are there any accountants, or lawyers, on the Forum who can set us on the "straight and narrow", especially in regard to federal standards?