"Matt Barrow" wrote in message
...

If your independent contractor does not show up for work,

An independent contractor, by definition, cannot "not show up for work".
One of the prime 13 rules that the IRS sets up to determine whether or not a
person is an i.c. is whether the person gets to set time, place, and methods
of doing the work. All you can specify is the result and the time and place
that the finished "product" is due.

"Matt Barrow" is a construction contractor. If I tell Mike that I want a
home built to thus and such a set of plans and due by October 31 on this
piece of property facing north by northwest, Matt is an i.c.. Matt can
choose to start building any day between now and 30 October if he wishes.
However, if I hire Matt by the hour to build that house, 5 days a week,
specifying each and every day what I want done, I've got an employee.

or violates your
rules,

The only "rules" you can have is to specify what the product has to be, and
when and where it is to be delivered. If the i.c. does it drunk, or high,
or standing on his head, it matters not. So long as the "contract" (i.e.
the agreement for what, when, and where) is met, there can be no other
rules.

or gives unsatisfactory performance, what do you do?

Simple. Just don't call him the next time you have a contract to let.

Jim