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You are years too late. Microsoft tried that and got tagged by the government big time. I see things like your post and get that uneasy feeling. You would probably not be someone I would want to work for OR Contract for.

There are certain work rules that differ between 'employees' and 'contractors'. I have been contracting for 15 years and the rules are VERY VERY different.

In many states, this strategy just doesn't work for eliminating Workers Compensation liability (although it can work in some states.) In many states (such as my own home state of Illinois) using an uninsured independent contractor doesn't eliminate your Workers Comp exposure. An independent contractor or subcontractor that doesn't have his own Workers Comp insurance is covered under the policy of whatever entity retains his services. The story I like to share in this regard happened many years ago to my own grandmother. She owned a restaurant, and hired a roofer to do some work on the restaurant's roof. The unfortunate man fell off the roof while doing the work and was killed. Turned out that he didn't have his own Workers Comp--as an sole proprietor of his own business, he wasn't required to purchase insurance for himself. But when he was killed while performing work for my grandmother's business, the Workers Comp liability was still there for her. The family of the deceased roofer was able to pursue a claim against my grandmother's policy.

Some states have enacted specific statutes to address this kind of issue, so that sole proprietors and partnerships that elect to go without coverage are not entitled to Workers Comp benefits from companies that retain their services in a true independent contractor relationship--but many states have not addressed this.

Even in many of the states that have enacted such statutory changes, the "independent contractor" cannot be performing the same kind of work as the company that retains them, if they want to get the exemption. That is, a roofing company could not hire a bunch of "independent contractors" who do roofing work. But a restaurant could retain a roofer as an independent contractor and not get the Workers Comp liability (if located in one of the states that have changed their rules.)

Many states have been cracking down in recent years on abuses of independent contractor relationships, because some employers have been trying to dodge their tax and Workers Comp liabilities by turning employees into "independent contractors" that are independent only on paper. So this is probably not a wise strategy IMHO. And in states like Illinois, it definitely won't eliminate Workers Compensation liability. When your insurance company does the audit, the odds are good they'll just tack on a substantial charge for all those "independent contractors" that didn't have their own insurance.