I will start a temp gig of about 70 days thats 1099 on commercial vessel. I went through an agency with company paid fees.
Does liability fall onto me as the independent contractor as Master, agency, or company? Would it be in my best interest to pay for temp trip insurance? For commercial work im accustomed to W2 work and if something happened, its on the company dime.
Any help appreciated
Itâs my opinion without any facts to support itp. Working as a licensed master, or in my case operator, paid through 1099 I could be liable. Itâs one reason I dropped my license, little bit I work on boats now extra pay as operator not worth the risk.
You are not really an âindependent contractor.â You are an employee or servant of the vessel, and owners, that is merely disguised as a â1099 independent contractorâ for tax purposes.
I could be wrong, but I donât think that you have any more, or less liability, whether you are an employee or âindependent contractor.â
Also, chances are that if the State Labor Department, IRS, or whoever, ever took a hard look at it, they would say that you are an employee - that was misclassified as an independent contractor.
Some States have very specific requirements and/or pre-authorizations that must be met for independent contractor status.
Yea figured if it ever came down to it, Iâm misclassified in the state where theyâre based. However Iâve never been 1099 so wasnt sure about liability. When I ran full time on my own business, I carried insurance but that was running deliveries, private instruction, day trips, repair and maintenance.
I think Iâll just let it be and run my hitch with hopefully zero hickups. The vessel has azipods so this will be new for me.
If I read this correctly, you just got your TOAR.
Now, before youâre going aboard youâre worried about personal, professional and legal liability?
Guess that âTOAR of page of TOAR approvalâ wasnât really âall you needed to knowâ to stand your own watch.
Personally, Iâd be more concerned with WHAT company would hire you with no towing experience than what your actual liability would be!
BTW. You are the Master of the Vessel. Everything you do falls under your onus. If the company doesnât support its Master then âŚâŚ well they did hire you with no experienceâŚâŚ best of luck.
AFAIK, there is no magical cover your ass insurance that covers negligence. There is âlicense insuranceâ to defend as long as it wasnât gross negligence or intentional negligence (what would a prudent mariner do?)
Actually, to paraphrase your other post:
âIf I have a license, TOAR and twic can I get a tugboat job?â
Combined with a later response: well, I donât have a TOAR, but can get one.â
Then you come on this post and ask about 1099 pay.
What you are constantly asking are indicative of âlow caliber employmentâ which is taking advantage of employees.
You are most definitely NOT 1099 self employed contract labor for a 70 day job. An unscrupulous employer (or âagencyâ) may want to use this so they get out of paying their fair share of taxes. But itâs not legal.
To be honest, they may get away with it. (Unless an audit is flagged). But you are taking a 15% pay cut, since you must pay (via quarterlyâs) the employer share of taxes.
This is NOT a good scenario to work under.
You may not want to hear it. But itâs the truth.
I agree with this. While a couple of commenters have been too crass with their points imo it doesnât mean theyâre incorrect. Historically & from the vessels Iâve worked on, the master is the closest representative to the owner on board. Them wanting to separate themselves from the master by 1099âing should be a giant red flag. The only times Iâve every seen anyone on board 1099âed were temporary roustabouts, temporary steward dept or foreigners on foreign cruises when we were looking to fill a slot on very short notice overseas.
If you go ahead with this foolhardy adventure, get enough professional insurance to cover 125% of the price of the vessel. You might be walking into an insurance scheme where the investors are looking for a payout & want to distance themselves from the master & crew preemptively via the 1099 bologna. Odd.
Iâve had a talk with maritime lawyers about this point a couple of times over the years. They explained it like this: if a mariner could be considered a private contractor every company would make every mariner on their vessels a private contractor. No benefits like health insurance or 401k needed. Most importantly: no Jones Act liability. Get hurt on the job and youâre on your own.
For this very reason, to protect mariners, the federal courts have made it clear that if you are doing a job aboard ship remotely like a marinerâs job, then you are a mariner under the employ of the ship and the supervision of the captain, and the Jones Act always applies.