There are five aspects to consider as you think about compensation for all the employees you’ll hire for your brewery. While I hope to shed some light on the compensation issues that breweries face, both federal and state laws govern this area of law, and state laws can be very diverse. Therefore, always consider consulting a legal professional regarding your specific situation.
Independent Contractor or Employee?
The first thing to consider is whether your employee is going to be an employee at all or whether the position is going to an independent contractor. This designation is a legal one, based primarily on who gets to make the decisions about how and when the work is going to be completed.
In general, an independent contractor is a consultant who is given an assignment and a deadline and is told to “make it happen.” How that happens—the timing of the activity, the means to accomplish the activity, and how much effort is put into accomplishing the activity—is generally up to the independent contractor.