employee or independent contractor?

[larissa]

In Australia there have been problems determining this. It seems that if your actions show an employer-employee relationship, then your workers are employees regardless of how you choose to describe them.

Perhaps someone can tell me if I am heading in the right direction in answering this question :

Question:
Company A (fits out plumbing in schools)X works for as an independent contractor becomes insolvent and goes into administration. The administrators sell the company to another company B not quite doing exactly the same (wholesale plumbing), without expressly informing X.
X is owed some pay from A and asks B for it, but B tells him that as the money is owed to him by A, he has to ask A for it.
The administrator tells him that B owe him the money as there has been a transmission of business from A to B.
B refuse to pay him this money.
X gets angry, shouts at the B's staffmember, leaves, returns the next day ,keeps on working on current jobs. Later he is told he will not be getting any more work.

What remedies does X have at common law?
These depend on whether X is actually an employee or an independent contractor.

Is there any obligation of new employer to give him work as 1)an employee or 2) a contractor?

Can he receive monies owed ? Depends on whether there has been a transmission of business and if X has taken up employment with new employer.