Are rental/leasing agencies exempt from the MA independent contractor law? I've been a leasing agent for 2 different agencies and I see the same issues come up over and over again. As a result, there is a high turnover rate.
Residential leasing agents are often hired as independent contractors. Their only compensation is through commission. Outside of renting apartments, many of the rental agencies require agents to perform certain duties that get in the way of their ability to make money, such as being scheduled to cover the reception desk several times a month, calling landlords and clients at scheduled times (rather than when it works best for the agent determined by that agent's expertise), being in the office each day even though all work can be performed outside of the office, providing daily reports of activities, placing a certain minimum amount of ads each day, having leads placed into their queue by a micromanaging "coach" and required to follow up, etc. Some agencies require agents to get a certain number of photos and videos of apartments per month, call a certain number of landlords per month, or other requirements, or they risk having their account suspended, and so on.
Many agencies also train new agents to their way of conducting business. "Coaches" go through the company database (they call it auditing) and evaluate the agents' leads and send repeated emails asking about the status, why some may not have been followed up on, or why they forgot to enter the notes! etc. A couple of agencies require IC's to sign non-compete agreements, which another law firm stated can't be done. There's just a tremendous amount of supervision and micromanaging at rental agencies that is often disguised as "coaching." Much of it gets in the way of focusing on the part of the job that makes money, renting apartments, which is the biggest issue of all. In fact, in an effort to lure rental agencies to its office, one craigslist ad summed it up quite well with the following:
"Are you tired of being micro-managed by a helicopter boss? Are you tired of the badgering that passes for agent coaching? Does the term Independent Contractor appear to be a contradiction in terms? Do you feel as if you are working in a sweatshop environment? If your present position is getting under your skin or you are thinking of getting in the apartment rentals business, give us a call."
The one oddity is that real estate agents cannot work for multiple brokers at the same, so many of the test questios that determine an IC vs employee can't be answered. Lastly, some agencies also require that the agents sign non-compete agreements, which as I stated earlier, pushes the status over to employee.
Thank you.