If you are a 1099 sales rep

Am I really an independent contractor?

Not necessarily. The 1099 is the company's label, and courts look past it.

New York law asks how much control the company has over the results and the means used to achieve them. The factors are whether you work at your own convenience, whether you are free to take other work, whether you receive fringe benefits, whether you are on the payroll, and whether you work a fixed schedule (Bynog). In that case the workers lost: they chose their own shifts and worked for competitors freely.

Federal law asks a broader question: as a matter of economic reality, do you depend on this company's business, or are you in business for yourself? The factors are control, your opportunity for profit or loss and your investment, skill and initiative, how permanent the relationship is, and whether your work is integral to the company's business. The employer's label "is not controlling" (Brock).

Signs you may be an employee: the company sets your hours, quotas, territory and prices; you use its scripts and CRM; you cannot sell for anyone else; you invested nothing; selling is the company's core business. The two tests can come out differently, so you can be an employee under one law and not the other. If you are misclassified, you have all the rights in the guide for W-2 salespeople: minimum wage, overtime, the anti-deduction rule, liquidated damages and owner liability. You can press the contractor claims below in the alternative.

Which law covers my commissions?

Wholesale sales representatives

You solicit orders in New York for a company that manufactures, produces, imports or distributes a product for wholesale, and your commission is a percentage of those wholesale orders. Labor Law §§ 191-a to 191-c cover you.

Everyone else

Most other independent salespeople — software, advertising, services, financial products, home improvement — are covered by New York's Freelance Isn't Free Act (General Business Law §§ 1410–1414, statewide since August 28, 2024) and, in New York City, the city's law (Admin. Code § 20-927 and following, since 2017). Both exclude § 191-a wholesale reps, lawyers and licensed medical professionals; the state law also excludes construction contractors.

Your contract

A breach-of-contract claim is available alongside either statute.

If you are a wholesale rep

• A written contract. The principal must put the commission method in writing, give you a signed copy and take a signed receipt (§ 191-b).
• When a commission is earned. The contract decides. If it is silent, a commission is earned when the merchandise is delivered, accepted and paid for, "notwithstanding that the sales representative's services may have terminated" (§ 191-a(b)). That default protects your pipeline.
• Payment during the relationship: within five business days after a commission is earned (§ 191-b(3)).
• Payment after termination: earned commissions within five business days after the contract ends, and within five business days after they come due for commissions not yet due at termination (§ 191-c).
• Remedies. A principal that fails to comply owes double damages, and it need not have acted willfully (§ 191-c(3)). Attorney's fees go to "the prevailing party," which can be either side, so get advice before filing.

If you are a freelancer

• Who is covered. One person hired as an independent contractor to provide services for pay. It does not matter whether you work through your own corporation or a one-person LLC (MJ Lilly Associates). Under the state law the work must be worth $800 or more, alone or combined with other work for the same company over the prior 120 days.
• A written contract listing the parties, the services, their value, the rate and method of pay, the payment date or how it is set, and the invoice deadline. The company keeps it for six years, and if it cannot produce it when the Attorney General asks, your account of the terms is presumed correct.
• Ask for the contract in writing, before you start. A claim based only on the missing contract requires proof that you asked before the work began (Sandles).
• Payment deadline. By the date in the contract, or within 30 days after the work is done if none is set. The company cannot make timely payment depend on your accepting less.
• Retaliation. The company cannot punish you or cut you off for asserting rights the Act grants. Turning down an assignment is not one of those rights (Sandles).
• Remedies. Double damages for nonpayment; $250 for a missing contract, or the contract's value if you also win another claim; the contract's value for retaliation; and attorney's fees if you win.
• Filing. You can sue directly, and a complaint to the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection does not block a lawsuit (Sandles). When you sue, serve a copy on the State Attorney General or the Department within 10 days; missing that step does not end the case.
• One open question: whether a commission-only arrangement is a contract for services under these laws. No appellate court has decided it.

My contract ended. Do I get paid on deals that close later?

• Wholesale reps: by default yes. A commission is earned when the order is delivered, accepted and paid for, even after termination (§ 191-a(b)), unless your contract says otherwise.
• Everyone else, on sales you completed: the commission is owed even if the customer pays after the contract ends. A term that cuts off commissions already earned is a forfeiture New York courts disfavor (Weiner).
• Everyone else, on business you had not closed: future renewals, ongoing account revenue and deals still in negotiation depend on the contract (Devany). The "procuring cause" rule has been limited to licensed real estate brokers.
• Before you sign: negotiate a tail provision covering deals you source that close after termination, for a stated period.

The company charged back a commission after the customer cancelled. Is that allowed?

The employee anti-deduction rule (§ 193) does not apply to true contractors, so your contract is the starting point. It is not the last word: New York's policy against forfeiture reaches commissions a sales representative has already earned (Weiner). Read how your contract defines when a commission is earned and whether it allows chargebacks. If the company controls you like an employee, the stronger employee rules may apply.

Can I be held to a non-compete?

Possibly. New York has no statute banning non-competes as of September 2026; a bill (S9759) is pending in the Assembly. Courts enforce restrictive covenants only so far as they are reasonable and protect a legitimate business interest (Morris). Read the restrictions before you sign, and keep a copy.

Am I protected if I report something illegal?

Often, yes. New York's whistleblower law expressly covers individuals working as independent contractors in furtherance of the company's business (Labor Law § 740), and it protects reporting or objecting to conduct you reasonably believe violates a law. The Freelance Isn't Free laws separately protect you for asserting your freelance rights.

Can I go after the owners personally?

Usually not as a contractor. The statutes that make a company's largest owners personally liable cover unpaid wages of employees. If you were misclassified and were really an employee, those routes open up, including the 180-day notice deadline (Ingvarsdottir). That is one more reason to sort out your status early.

Do I get overtime or minimum wage?

Not as a true independent contractor. If you are really an employee, see the overtime section of the guide for W-2 salespeople.