1

So my girlfriend just recently got a job offer for a company that is requesting a background check. About 2 years ago she worked for a company that hired her as a 1099 for tax purposes supposedly. She started off working there 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, but after about a month they started to tell her to come in when they needed projects completed. After a couple of months of not receiving projects, she emailed them saying she no longer wanted to work for them.

She is now worried that the employment background check will show that she worked for the company for less time than she put on her resume, because of the lack of work she received from them. She put her end date on her resume as the day she sent the email that she was quitting, so she is worried that her new employer will think she is lying.

Also, is not telling a company you were hired as a 1099 bad? I'm not sure how employment background checks work, but is this something she should tell them before filling starting the background check and just submitting the 1099 to them?

Sorry for so many questions, she's just a little panicked now and I want to help her out.

Improve this question

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
1

I think, she may have misunderstood the 1099 contract circumstances.

As far as I understand 1099 contractors are self employed and therefore can work for any number of companies during their contracts unless there is an exclusivity clause.

That means, she only needs to end the contract with a company if she wants to be employed full time by another or the same company and stops being self employed or doesn't want to have further relations with that company anymore.

So she could have worked for companies as a contractor or freelancer on site or at home and pop back into that first company when they had work for her.

In any case, there shouldn't be an issue if the CV states 1099 contract begin-end date as she did.
It's the truth as she wasn't actually employed but contracted as self employed which she ended.

Improve this answer
8
  • Yeah it is quite possibly we both didn't understand her 1099 contract. My only other worry about start-end date for the 1099 contract is that when she did email him to end her contract, she didn't receive a reply. So we worry that there is the possibility that he ended her contract without notifying her, and that is why she didn't receive work or any contact for 3 months? Sorry just to clarify, what are you referring to when you say the CV? Are you referring to her CV?
    – Alex Nguyen
    Feb 24, 2019 at 0:31
  • @AlexNguyen yes, her Curriculum Vitae (; If you did misunderstand the 1099 I hope she at least paid the taxes properly, since the company wouldn't withold any and she would have to fill out the form and send it (and the tax payments) to the IRS herself... well, if he did end her contract he would have had to inform her for it to become legal.I assume they just didn't need or want her during that time. I don't think there is any problem that might come from there, she just needs to mention it was a 1099 contract and she ended it.
    – DigitalBlade969
    Feb 24, 2019 at 0:37
  • Thanks for the clarification! She did pay taxes for it :). Hmm well he definitely didn't inform her that it was terminated, before or after she sent the email. So I guess it is safe to assume it ended when she sent the email. But when companies run a background check, do things like start/end dates even show up for a 1099 employee? I'm assuming that is something you'd have to call to get information for. editing this: I confused cover letter with CV, so if you read this before please ignore lol.
    – Alex Nguyen
    Feb 24, 2019 at 0:42
  • @AlexNguyen you're welcome. ah it should be fine, don't worry. Should the check unexpectedly fail, she can always clarify that and then she should pass if that was the reason why she failed.
    – DigitalBlade969
    Feb 24, 2019 at 0:44
  • Hmm well he definitely didn't inform her that it was terminated, before or after she sent the email. So I guess it is safe to assume it ended when she sent the email. But when companies run a background check, do things like start/end dates even show up for a 1099 employee? I'm assuming that is something you'd have to call to get information for. I confused cover letter with CV, so if you read the prior comment before before please ignore that part lol.
    – Alex Nguyen
    Feb 24, 2019 at 0:47
0

The background check should reveal that she was a 1099 consultant/contractor, not an employee. Her tax paperwork will show the same thing. She should have no difficulty.

Improve this answer
1
  • Awesome that is so great to hear! She is just worried because the last issued paycheck would have been about 3 months earlier to when she listed her end date which could possible have raised some red flags? Especially if the prior employer doesn't keep adequate records of 1099 contractors.
    – Alex Nguyen
    Feb 24, 2019 at 0:24
0

  1. She should tell them that she was an independent contractor working on a 1099 basis. There's nothing unprofessional or questionable about that.

  2. If she did in fact perform work for this company during the time period she stated, regardless of the amount or volume of work, I don't see how that would be anything to worry about.

Improve this answer
1
  • Awesome! So she should let them know before conducting the background check correct? She actually isn't sure what kind of background check they will be performing, if it will even include prior employment, but we're just assuming it does. She was told she will receive that information on Monday. She is just worrying because the last issued paycheck is about 3 months prior to when she listed her end date, so we were worried about a discrepancy there.
    – Alex Nguyen
    Feb 24, 2019 at 0:26

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .