W-2 or 1099? The Truth About Hiring Clinicians
- Nicole Cozean
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
Can you hire a clinician as a 1099 contractor instead of a W-2 employee?
Pelvic PT Rising: The pelvic health tools to make you a better clinician and/or a more successful business owner. We want every single pelvic health practitioner to be more confident and successful in your practice and career!
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Can you hire a clinician as a 1099 contractor instead of a W-2 employee?
Short answer: No. It’s illegal. And it’s one of the biggest risks you take as a business owner.
In this episode, we break down:
Why payroll taxes incentivize employers to call people “contractors.”
The 10 IRS criteria that determine if someone is a W-2 or 1099 (hint: clinicians don’t qualify).
Why paying someone as a contractor actually hurts your business, even if it were legal.
The real risks of misclassification — IRS audits, state audits, or employee complaints.
What to do if you’ve been misclassifying and how to fix it.
This is a can’t-miss episode if you’re hiring (or thinking about it).
Business Accelerator
If you want to take your business to the next level, make sure to check out the 6-month coaching intensive from Rising. We help you market the practice, build out business systems and achieve Clinical Excellence in the practice. Find out why we've worked with 700+ business owners with big-time results in their business (www.pelvicptrising.com/accelerator).
We're now accepting applications for our January 2026 cohort!
Learn more about pelvic health with our Clinical Courses
All of the Rising clinical courses are designed to:
Challenge the way you think
Make you more confident in your clinical practice.
Allow you to go-at-your-own pace (all online!)
Let you go back to your work: you'll have lifetime access to the lectures and handouts. Check out all the clinical courses we offer (www.pelvicptrising.com/clinical).
Curious about private practice? Check out our Business Resources
We've now helped more than 200 cash-based pelvic health practices start and grow.
We want to make sure you're building a business that works for you (instead of vice-versa) and actually enjoy the process along the way!
See all the business resources we offer (www.pelvicptrising.com/business), tailored specifically to pelvic health!
Nicole Cozean, PT, DPT, WCS
Founder of Pelvic PT Rising and PelvicSanity Physical Therapy in Southern California.
Dedicated to forever changing pelvic health with online clinical courses to help you be more confident in your practice and business resources to help start and grow pelvic health businesses.
Jesse Cozean, MBA
Co-founder of the Pelvic PT Rising and the Rising Podcast.
Jesse uses his business experience to help pelvic health business owners start and grow their practices so they can build a practice that truly works for them. From website design, SEO, conversions, marketing, finance and money mindset, he wants to make the process of owning your own practice easier and fun.