As an employment lawyer in Maine, I routinely deal with a number of small, locally-owned businesses. Many small businesses are, at least in my experience, often interested in achieving two interrelated but somewhat competing goals: (a) expanding their operations and/or increasing output; while also (b) minimizing the (sometimes prohibitive) costs and overhead that accompany such expansion. One idea that is frequently discussed is hiring new workers on an independent contractor basis, rather than as employees.   Independent contractors absolutely serve important business functions. However, you should not decide to hire someone as an independent contractor without first giving the matter careful thought. There can be serious consequences for misclassifying a worker as an independent contractor rather than an employee.   In Maine, the default presumption in most circumstances is that a worker is an employee and not an independent contractor. The burden rests on the hiring party to demonstrate otherwise. Contrary to what many people believe, simply having a contract indicating that the person is an independent contractor is not, itself, sufficient (although it is still an important component –…