Debunking Myths: Policies and Procedures for 1099 Agents

9 Jul 2024 · 1 min

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In this instructional segment, the speaker addresses independent broker owners who mistakenly believe that, because their agents are classified as 1099 independent contractors, they cannot establish any policies or procedures. The speaker clarifies that while brokers cannot micromanage daily schedules, they are fully entitled to set standards covering professional dress, public presentation, compliance with local and state real‑estate regulations, and adherence to the REALTOR® Code of Ethics. The speaker also notes that expectations may differ for non‑REALTOR brokers, but all such guidelines can be documented in a policies and procedures manual.

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Now, I'm going to talk to my independent broker owners, mm-hmm, because I teach a lot of classes. And I run into a lot of brokers that say, "Um, I, uh, what?" They don't have a policies and procedures manual. Now, some people have been misguided by employment law and they think, "Well, my agents are 1099s, I can't have policies and procedures." Yes, you can. You just can't dictate their minute-by-minute, day-by-day schedules. You can actually tell them that you have expectations on professional dress. You can tell them you have expectations on the way that they present things in public and that you have expectations on their guidelines when it comes to abiding by the local restrictions, by the state regulatory body, the Real Estate Commission, by the REALTOR® Code of Ethics. If you're not a REALTOR® broker, you probably have different level of expectations as well. But you can lay all those things out in your policy and procedure manual.