Compliance Services
Several landmark cases and the associated penalties in the millions of dollars have raised awareness to the issue of worker misclassification. Determining employee versus independent contractor status is typically not a black or white issue. In addition, the rules for testing are constantly changing. As a result, Synergy Services has developed a series of documented processes, methodologies, and tools designed to help companies with contractors and/or temporary workers avoid potential risks and penalties associated with worker misclassification.
Synergy Compliance Services is a web based service designed to help companies with contractors and/or temporary workers avoid potential risks and penalties associated with worker misclassification. Synergy uses a number of criteria to determine a worker's status, however, the primary thrust of our analysis centers on "direction and control" issues and controls testing (behavioral, financial and relationship). Synergy also has a weighting system to place emphasis on critical factors and de-emphasize less relevant factors related to worker status. Ultimately, many cases are determined to be borderline and require a more detailed analysis from trained human resource professionals. Synergy provides extensive training and the Synergy Compliance Manual, which was developed with assistance of legal experts, and serves as the standard for all training and evaluations at Synergy.
The Synergy Compliance Service consists of a comprehensive survey which is completed online by the independent contractor as well as the manager to determine any "high risk" candidates. Once both surveys are received, Synergy has a scoring engine to quantify the "risk factor" of each individual. In addition, Synergy's Compliance Consultants perform a qualitative analysis to validate the surveys and interpret the results.
In the event of a "high risk" score, Synergy offers low cost alternatives that help mitigate the risks of misclassification including Agency of Record and/or Employer of Record solutions. A "high risk" profile is determined by the overall survey score in addition to the answers to specific questions that are viewed as automatic high risk conditions.
In addition to our comprehensive online survey and qualitative review, Synergy has many processes and policies as a part of our solution that are used to insure 1099 compliance for individuals who appear to be at low risk of misclassification, as well as several protections against those contractors that may be converted to employee status with Synergy as the Employer of Record.
Synergy Compliance Services include:
- Online compliance testing
- Compliance consultant analysis
- Pre-screening and enrollment
- IC contract administration
- IC compliance backup files
- IC payment processing
- Documented engagement processes
- Compliance manual and training
- Consolidated online billing
- Year end reporting
