You're right, in that case. In the case of contractors invoicing is normal and legally acceptable. In the use case you mention here, contractors are appropriate and legal.
It is, however, illegal to pay employees like contractors. When you are hired to work full time for a start up you almost always meet the test of being an employee. The author of this article did. It IS therefore illegal to not give her a paystub or ask her to invoice.
This is generalizable to start ups. I've worked for start ups. Every time I was hired as an employee and treated as one. It would have been a red flag and illegal for them not to pay me as an employee.
Again, everything you're saying for the most part is true if you're talking about paying IC's. Where you are demonstrably wrong is assuming that you can treat start up employees as ICs You can't. Therefore doing what you're claiming is "normal" is actually illegal on many levels.
It is, however, illegal to pay employees like contractors. When you are hired to work full time for a start up you almost always meet the test of being an employee. The author of this article did. It IS therefore illegal to not give her a paystub or ask her to invoice.
This is generalizable to start ups. I've worked for start ups. Every time I was hired as an employee and treated as one. It would have been a red flag and illegal for them not to pay me as an employee.
Again, everything you're saying for the most part is true if you're talking about paying IC's. Where you are demonstrably wrong is assuming that you can treat start up employees as ICs You can't. Therefore doing what you're claiming is "normal" is actually illegal on many levels.