My friend paid me to clean while he was healing from surgery, does he have to pay a fee if Im doing independent contractor

My friend paid me to clean 1x a week for 10 weeks, total of 1000.00  while he was healing from surgery

Hawaii Dept. of Labor is charging him 36.00 because I was filing Unemployment and then got the temporary gig with him. If I am doing independent contractor/gig worker, arnt I the one paying the taxes? Does anyone know why the Dept of Labor is after him?