Background:
I am a 1099 contractor in Michigan doing work in the commercial telecom industry.
Recently started operations with a new contractor, this is my first time doing commercial-only work (used to be primarily residential with a small amount of commercial jobs here and there).
From all my prior experience in the field: if you have to drill or cut into a building you cannot proceed until you have the written permission of the owner of the property. Makes sense to me, standard legal CYA. Idea being if the owner didn't want that hole in their building you are liable for damages.
Current Situation:
I am a contractor (sole proprietor) working for another contractor - we'll call him John (intermediate guy who does this kind of thing, networks and got enough techs together under him so he can handle large enough workloads to make it worthwhile for larger companies to work with him) getting work from a contracting company - we'll call them ContractCo. (one of many small to mid-sized companies that do work for the major telecom providers) who get assigned work from one of the top-level telecom companies in our area (AT&T, Comcast, Charter, Time-Warner, etc...) - we'll call them BigTelco.
My Problem:
I get work assigned to me by email for individual jobs. Some of these jobs include a ROE / waiver of liability (Right Of Entry) which is basically a signed document, signed by the owner of the property, saying we have permission to go and do our jobs which includes drilling/cutting/modifying the property. This is standard from my experience.
Now, some of the jobs I get don't have this ROE, meaning I have no way of knowing if the owner of the property is OK with me drilling a 2 inch hole through their brick or things like that - or even if the property owner knows this is being done.
ContractCo sends jobs out that do not have this document and expect us to do the work. As far as I can tell, I am the only one having a problem with that as I am fairly anal about documentation and liability - I want to know that the property owner is aware and OK with what I am doing to their property.
In some situations (not all) after some back and forth they found that they did have the document and got me a copy. In other situations I have found there was no such document, the owner was unaware and specifically stated to me that they did not give permission and would not have done so.
I have been told by one of the managers at ContractCo that in that kind of event they have a damage claims process and if someone puts in a damage claim that comes down to them, if I did the work they requested I do and it turns out the owner was not OK with it they will take responsibility and it won't come down on me. I have no written document to this effect though.
My Questions:
I am assuming that since I am a 1099 contractor and not an employee of John or ContractCo that in the eyes of the law, anything I do (drill a hole, etc) is my liability and not theirs - is this correct?
What would I need from a legal perspective to do these jobs that had no ROE / waiver and know that liability for proceeding is on ContractCo and not me?
Any general advice? This job pays well and I am loathe to lose it, and I am the only one refusing work because of this issue. Worried I might lose this job because it it.
Written By: l_one
Source: http://bit.ly/2PyccaR
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