It doesn’t appear that any of you know what the laws are that the states and feds use to classify us. You probably didn’t know when these laws changed in the past and why either. You shouldn’t be giving others advice about it unless you’re sure. I’ve already shown you where to find it. If you are too lazy or disinterested, that’s fine, but don’t mislead or blame others searching for answers as to why they were cheated. And don’t ask me ‘where I get this stuff’ because your lazy A wants it spoon fed to you. If you haven’t noticed, most of the threads here have been about being cheated. I see that some immediately blame the poster. Trust me, nobody wants to ‘work for free.’ If that’s what the outcome was for them, they should know their rights.
If we contract with Ipsos, it doesn’t make us their ‘employees.’ The laws that have been passed and are essentially in effect now will require them to TREAT US AS EMPLOYEES. There are several factors used to determine if we are to be considered employees - with all of the same rights - or independent contractors. Most of them are in our favor to be considered employees. Maybe you should take the time to read up on it before making one line statements negating that.
If a company heavily relies on the ICs in order to conduct their business and wouldn’t be able to function without them, the ICs are viewed as employees - as far as the government is concerned. Thus we are considered ESSENTIAL WORKERS for that company. In the case of Ipsos, they’ve got their hands in several pots, but the majority of their contracts require our work in the field. If they give us the shaft by not following labor laws there IS recourse. Unfortunately most here are too fearful to stick up for themselves and assert their rights - WHICH HURTS ALL OF US. IPSOS KNOWS THIS BECAUSE THEY’RE MONITORING THIS BOARD.
There are a few other factors the state uses to determine our rights as workers. Another one is the ability to realize profit and loss. An aspect of that is whether or not the worker is able to discern if they can make a profit from their work. People taking Ipsos scraps only to get cheated are being used, and are not realizing a profit from their work. They don’t need you telling them it’s their own fault because they didn’t follow the rules - since you don’t know what they are either. In this case both of you would be considered to have ‘employee’ status in the gov’t view. These federal laws are based on decades of labor case law that must be followed by Ipsos. Implementation and oversite is mostly handled by the states. Some states may have stricter laws in place which would supersede the Fed’s guidelines.
You’re free to contract with them or not regardless, but if you do, the advice I gave was in order to protect your right to be paid. Here it is in detail:
Take a screen shot of the offer page before you accept and submit it. Then take a screenshot of the acceptance page. Take screenshots of the guidelines. If the rules conflict between the offer page and the guidelines - F them. Favor what you will. It’s their responsibility to fix it, and they’ve been alerted enough times. They purposely don’t correct it so they can use it as a ‘splitting’ tool and an excuse not to pay you. You don’t have to know ANY OTHER RULES about time stamps or other such crap unless it’s specifically notated in the guidelines for that shop. If your shop gets rejected for anything not listed in the guidelines or they make an unreasonable demand that you aren’t obligated to fulfill - waste no time in sending a complaint to the ‘HELP’ link for the shop, Take a screenshot of it BEFORE YOU SUBMIT IT. Make them aware that you want a copy of the survey - which they deny you access to after it is submitted - and request that they point to the exact # or question or attachment on the survey that they find fault with - AND WHY. Take a screenshot of this request, then copy and paste the text and email it to the editor, the scheduler, and any ‘higher up’ overseeing the scheduler. CC yourself the emails and create a file for it. Unfortunately this is what’s required if you don’t want to risk getting cheated by Ipsos. It doesn’t take much time actually but it will for them, and they’ll get sick of it right quick. Just ask DP, who claims that complaining to other entities won’t help you. Dumb move. When this crap happens it’s a reflection on them and who they are, and they WILL have to deal with it as a whole, instead of the current revolving blame game cluster F they have in place now.
If you don’t get a satisfactory result, send a copy of your correspondence or lack thereof to the BBB, your state’s AGs office and your State Dept. of Labor Wage and Hour Division. Include a copy of any online shop offers that don’t meet the minimum wage requirements. Ipsos will automatically be required to respond to all 3. Even if they bend and pay you at any point, you’ll still have proof that they TRIED TO EXPLOIT YOUR WORK AND WITHHOLD YOUR EARNINGS. You have no idea whether Ipsos actually used your work but you can request that these gov’t entities look into it. It may not occur to them what the motivation or incentive for Ipsos is and that needs to be looked into. We know when we made a mistake and when we didn’t. It’s not rocket science. Add the complaints to your file and follow up if you don’t hear back. If Ipsos drops you by deactivating access to your account, report this retaliatory action towards you, their employee. Ask the highest level Ipsos supervisor to explain why you were dropped and save any response, which you most likely won’t get. You will then have a case as an injured party if a class action arises. THE AMOUNT OF YOUR LOSS ISN’T THE SOLE FACTOR IN DETERMINING THE SETTLEMENT FEES AND PUNITIVE DAMAGES.
There are a lot of people watching and waiting to see what Ipsos will do in abiding by these new and enhanced laws. I dropped them years ago when Trump reversed the protections we did have. Nobody will tolerate another reversal. Ipsos has their hand in political polling and forecasting among other questionable enterprises. If you don’t believe this, look them up on the BBB’s website and see the hundred of complaints - many from people in the UK - who contracted to do endless opinion surveys for them in order to obtain ‘Points’ that went ‘Poof’ when it came time to cash in on them. From what I’ve seen their practices have not improved at all, and they continue to roll the dice in their treatment of us. Trust me, there are many other legit companies out there if you bother to look. You can get by just fine without them. I did. Plus it won’t be long before their pay becomes even worse. I’ve seen scheduler spreadsheets sent in error showing the budget for each shop in different locations. They take the lions share and give you a pittance of it. There’s no ‘I’ll have to check to see’ if the scheduler can increase the pay. It’s within their discretion. When they send you offers via text, ask if it’s a group text before responding. You get tested in so many ways.