Disclaimer: I know laws are different in every state, but I don't want to give away too much info just in case, so generalized answers are greatly appreciated!

My boyfriend (29M, let's call him Jim) works in a niche blue collar field. His job involves him traveling almost every single week and long, LONG hours. As well as a lot of manual labor. The company is small and Jim does 75% (roughly) of the work that should be done by multiple people. Jim is the one going in person to the sites, doing the physical labor, etc. The main issue here is Jim is considered by the company an "independent contractor". There is another employee (CEO's son, shocker) who has the same duties as Jim, but a) does NOT do them, he is incredibly unreliable and b) IS a salaried employee. I know companies have hierarchies and stuff, but this seems ridiculous to me. Jim works well over 40 hours a week, usually has to wait multiple weeks to get paid due to laziness and disorganization on the CEO's behalf, Jim has to pick up slack from the CEO's son, is offered NO benefits, no PTO, and according to my understanding of my state's employee rights, Jim absolutely should be considered an employee! By that, I mean he has worked with the company for 4 years providing a service that the company advertises. So it's not like he's a freelance electrician that the company hires third party. He works for the company doing the physical labor part of service; the same service and labor done by the unreliable employee who IS salaried, gets PTO, etc. But he is not considered an employee, and his bosses continue to take advantage of him. I guess my main question is, would Jim have a leg to stand on if he confronted his bosses about being treated and labeled as an employee so he would at the very least be salaried and get unemployment benefits if he, god forbid, was let go? IDK if any of this makes sense, I work in the legal field but not this type of law, so the lawyers in my office didn't have any helpful advice. And I don't want to meet with a lawyer in person just yet, not sure how Jim wants to eventually proceed with this, if at all. But as someone going into law, I am getting that stubborn, argumentative fire in me around this and I need to know if there is any legal push back he can give his bosses.

(PS apparently the CEO hired his daughter, gave her a phony title, put her on salary, and then bought her a $1m home as a gift from all the money he made from a recent deal the company made. IDK if that is necessarily illegal or whatever, but you're gonna buy your daughter/employee a house and you can't even pay your objectively most valuable employee on time??)