The National Association of Professional Allstate Agents Inc. raised the issue of independent contractor status of agents. The organization says Allstate Insurance classified the agents as independent contractors in 2000 but has denied them the freedom to actually act as independent contractors.

Concerns include classifying the agents as independent contractors without giving them full control over their businesses. Agents, according to the association, face restrictions such as mandatory office hours, sales quotas, verbal and written warnings for not meeting quotas, a requirement to forward office calls to company service centers after hours and other requirements.

It's hoped that now, with the IRS announcing plans to audit 6,000 companies for employment tax issues, that "maybe Allstate agents will finally attain the independent contractor status they have long been denied," Jim Fish, NAPAA executive director, said in a statement.

The association's magazine, Exclusivefocus, includes a sample IRS Form SS-8 -- the form used for determining the status of workers for federal employment tax withholding.

Laura Strykowski, a spokesperson for Allstate, said courts, as well as the National Labor Relations Board and IRS, have ruled that Allstate agents are classified correctly as independent contractors.

Allstate has 14,700 exclusive agents, Strykowski said.