Legal Question in Employment Law in California

1. Not entirely true, so I have to say "false." However, it would be very hard to structure an admin/support job in a way that it would qualify for independent contractor status. I can't imagine how anyone could use an admin/support person without them being an employee, unless the person operated their own "on call" admin/support business. There is no absolute bright line standard for when you can use a person's services as an independent contractor rather than an employee, but here is a good 20-point check list used by the IRS when auditing employers for whether they have wrongfully evaded payroll taxes by classifying workers as contractors instead of employees: http://art.mt.gov/artists/IRS_20pt_Checklist_ Independent_Contractor.pdf

The answers to the rest of your questions are dependent on whether you actually are an correctly classified as a contractor. If you are, all of the other things are legal (except maybe the lost pay, since that would be treated as a liquidated damages clause which must not be excessive to the loss incurred for a breach of the contract). If you are an employee, none of them are legal, and in fact entitle you to sue your employer for back pay and penalties.

Whether one is an independent contractor depends on many facts and the amount of control the principal has over the worker. In most cases, secretaries, receptionists, etc. are not indep. contractors, but rather, at will employees. As such, they must be paid for all of the time they work and if they work over 40 hours per work week or over 8 in a day, they are owed overtime. As at will employees, they can quit whenever they want and don't need to give any notice. CA law provides that employers must have established paydays and pay at least 2 times per month and on time.