A Pass Educational Group

They paid me less than I deserved to be paid. I worked 40 hours for $440 for professional work. They classified me as an independent contractor when they should have classified me as an employee. They are avoiding paying unemployment compensation that way and workers comp and disability pay, but I should definitely be classified as an employee.

Upon receiving an independent contractor contract from A Pass Education, it did not have any mention of the offered rate of $30/hour. Upon emailing and asking, I was informed that there is no hourly rate; in fact, the rate is only per project. Negotiations on what that per project rate is were refused and I was not even given an example of a typical project rate. Adding the independent contractor's agreed upon rate, for which typical duties, and for how long to what they call a "general" contract was refused. This company is an unfortunate example of how independent contractors (ICs) are taken advantage of. ICs should be warned that this company refuses to negotiate and sign a typical IC contract. Rates for work, duties, and duration should always be included explicitly in any honest IC contract. This company, A Pass Education Group, has many, many complaints against them posted online from ICs who didn't know they should negotiate this necessary info into their contracts. They write that they were roped in by the high hourly rate offered and now are under contract that pays them less than minimum wage per hour when all the work and hours are tabulated for 1 project. Never sign any IC contract unless a rate is negotiated commensurate with the amount of work entailed and is detailed in the contract. Their $30/hour rate often listed is false advertising. Lastly, what A Pass Education is calling a "general" contract includes a Non-Compete clause lasting 2 years after terminating any contract with A Pass. Which is not only illegal, but also is tax fraud. Since ICs pay their own Self-Employment taxes and are considered small business owners, it's tax fraud to prevent any IC from obtaining similar or the same work with any competitor, even when under contract with any given client. ICs should be warned not to sign any contract that restricts their own small business and that no client legally can restrict them from seeking and gaining similar clients at any given time. I'm only aware of all this info because I've been an IC for a while, off and on, and have learned the hard way. I also only applied to their ad because the rate offered was so promising.