Companies in the USA Permatemp ing IT/IS Consultants | 26+ months as Contract to Perm

GreaterNinja

I've been a W2 consultant at the client now for 26 months. It was originally supposed to be a 12 month contract-to-hire position. My contract even says that. Now 26+ months later, I've received 4 or 5 extensions and they keep telling me they want to hire me on. They have told me they will hire me on at least 8 times now, but they still have not done this.

After a lot of research I have found the IRS and Federal law has policies and penalties for companies that use permanent consultants like Permanent FTE Employees for anyone generally over 365 days to 18 months. Microsoft has even been sued for $97 Million USD before and lost at the Supreme Court level. This has set a precedent in these types of legal matters.
Permatemp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
After missing out on PTO, Sick days, yearly company bonus, merit raises, Holiday Pay, 401k Matching, Tuition reimbursement, Health benefits, Employee Stock Purchase Program, these numbers add up to a significant figure in the realm of tens of thousands of dollars.

Should I just walk away or hire an attorney? What do you guys think?

networker050184

It wouldn't be worth the trouble of an attorney for me. I'd just move on to greener pastures.

Russell77

First thing you might want to do is to inquire with your states department of labor. Depending on your state some of those guys scare the crap out of employers. They like to hammer the companies with fines on top of what you might be owed. It justifies their existence and you have a chance to remain anonymous, if the complaint is valid and affects a group of people.

J_86

Find a different, full time permanent, position and move on.
It's not really that uncommon. We have contractors at my current place that have been there for years.

Priston

I've been a contractor at the same company for over 3 years now. I think on paper I'm being provided to the company as a service, but in reality I work at the company as a contractor.

GreaterNinja

Russell77 wrote: »

First thing you might want to do is to inquire with your states department of labor. Depending on your state some of those guys scare the crap out of employers. They like to hammer the companies with fines on top of what you might be owed. It justifies their existence and you have a chance to remain anonymous, if the complaint is valid and affects a group of people.

Oh, I agree it is not uncommon and I have decided to leave the company already.
However, there still are Federal laws and IRS policies and penalties against permatemp ing employees.
See this link for briefer details: Permatemps

Our community needs to be aware of these laws and policies to protect consultants from constantly being stringed along or even abused.