Oregon Law to Affect Pay Stubs, Time and Pay Records, and Wage Theft

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

6/16/2016
by Kelly Riggs

The State of Oregon has enacted a new law, SB 1587, designed to increase transparency with respect to employee pay, prevent wage theft, and expose wage and hour violations. Generally, the law will require employers to provide additional details on itemized pay stubs and allow employees to inspect and request copies of their time and pay records. The law also provides increased enforcement measures and prohibits wage theft by public works contractors and subcontractors. Employers must comply with the new requirements, summarized below, beginning January 1, 2017.

Itemized Pay Stubs

Under the new amendments to the current pay stub statute, ORS 652.610, employers will be required to provide much greater detail on itemized, written pay stubs, including:

  • the date of the payment;
  • the dates of work covered by the payment;
  • the employee’s name;
  • the name and business registry number or business identification number of the employer;
  • the address and telephone number of the employer;
  • the rate or rates of pay;
  • whether the employee is paid by the hour, shift, day, or week or on a salary, piece, or commission basis;
  • gross wages;
  • net wages;
  • the amount and purpose of each deduction made during the period of service that the payment covers;
  • allowances, if any, claimed as part of minimum wage;
  • unless paid on a salary basis and legally exempt from overtime pay, the regular hourly rate or rates of pay, the overtime rate or rates of pay, the number of regular hours worked and pay for those hours, and the number of overtime hours worked and pay for those hours; and
  • if paid on a piece rate, the applicable piece rate or rates of pay, the number of pieces completed at each rate, and the total pay for each rate.

Employers may provide itemized pay stubs to employees in electronic form, but only if (1) the employee expressly agrees to receive them in electronic form; and (2) the employee has the ability to print or store the statement at the time of receipt.

Oregon law already provides that itemized pay stub violations constitute a Class D criminal violation, potentially punishable by a fine of up to $250 for individuals or $500 for corporations. Beginning on January 1, 2017, violations of these new pay stub provisions will also constitute a Class D criminal violation.

(Read More)

Labor Department investigating subcontractor on Trump’s Old Post Office project

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on
Drew Hanson, Digital Editor
Updated Jun 27, 2016, 10:18am EDT

The Labor Department is investigating whether a subcontractor working on Donald Trump’s Old Post Office hotel underpaid employees working on the downtown D.C. project, according to The Washington Post.

A Labor spokesperson told the Post the agency is looking into whether Brentwood-based glass specialist The Craftsmen Group was paying wages below those required by federal law on government construction projects.

The investigation was first reported last week by Politico. Workers on the Pennsylvania Avenue construction site, including one Craftsmen employee, told Politico that they and others were not receiving wages mandated by the Davis-Bacon Act.

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Building Trades, Community Orgs Make Final Push for a Just Sentence in 23-Year-Old’s Workplace Death

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

June 15, 2016
By Chaz Bolte

A coalition of community groups, labor unions, and worker centers are calling for a conviction during the final days of arguments in a case against Harco Construction, LLC. The case centers around the death of 23-year-old Carlos Moncayo, who was killed in an excavation collapse in New York City’s Meatpacking District in April of 2015.

The Ecuadorian immigrant was crushed when the walls of the site collapsed around him. Prosecutors brought charges against two construction managers – Wilmer Cueva of Sky Materials and Alfonso Prestia of Harco Construction – noting that they had ignored repeated warnings from private inspectors that treacherous conditions existed at the site.

As the duo faces the reality of doing time for their neglect, worker advocates are ramping up efforts to ensure justice is served for Moncayo while seizing an opportunity to call for stronger regulations and enforcement henceforth. More frequent jail time for hazardous behavior is one way the groups say this type of end result can be avoided.

Weakening Prevailing Wage Hurts Local Contractors (IN)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

A case study from Southern Indiana demonstrates how weakening prevailing wage negatively impacts local contractors and local workers.

Published by Frank Manzo IV
JUNE 15, 2016

Out-of-state contractors benefited after Indiana weakened its prevailing wage law, according to a new Economic Commentary from the Midwest Economic Policy Institute.

Despite an emerging academic consensus that shows state prevailing wage laws have no discernible impact on project costs, lawmakers in Indiana weakened the state’s law – called Common Construction Wage – between 2012 and 2015. In 2013, the threshold for coverage was increased from $250,000 to $350,000, meaning that workers were no longer paid a prevailing wage rate on projects costing between $250,000 and $349,999.

Prior to raising its contract threshold to $350,000, hourly earnings for construction workers in Indiana were similar to all neighboring states except Kentucky. Economic research suggests that out-of-state contractors with lower-paid workers will flood the public construction market after a prevailing wage law is weakened. If true, the greatest threat to Indiana contractors would come from across its southern border in Kentucky, where construction workers earned $5 less per hour on average in July 2012.

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Oregon Issues Rules In Advance Of New Minimum Wage Law

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

by Chris Lehman
June 15, 2016 5:56 p.m.
Updated: June 15, 2016 7 p.m.

Oregon employers have new guidance from the state on how much to pay their employees when the state’s minimum wage goes up next month. The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries released rules Wednesday meant to clear up one of the questions surrounding the legislatively-approved minimum wage hike.

The state’s minimum wage goes up July 1, but the amount of the increase depends on where you work. The wage goes up 25 cents per hour in rural counties and 50 cents per hour everywhere else. Next year, the state moves to a three-tiered system which gives workers in the Portland metro area a higher rate than the rest of the state.

But what about workers whose job sometimes takes them across the boundaries of the state’s three-tiered minimum wage map? Employers are worried they’d have to keep meticulous track of how much time any given worker spent in any given place.

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US DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, VIRGINIA EMPLOYMENT COMMISSION SIGN AGREEMENT TO PROTECT WORKERS FROM MISCLASSIFICATION

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

WHD News Release: 06/16/2016
Release Number: 16-1214-NAT
Participants: U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division
Virginia Employment CommissionPartnership description: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and the Virginia Employment Commission signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding intended to protect employees’ rights by preventing their misclassification as independent contractors or other non-employee statuses. The two agencies will provide clear, accurate and easy-to-access outreach to employers, employees and other stakeholders; share resources; and enhance enforcement by conducting coordinated investigations and sharing information consistent with applicable law.

Background: The division and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service are working with Virginia and 30 U.S. states to combat employee misclassification and to ensure that workers get the wages, benefits and protections to which they are entitled. Labeling employees as something they are not – such as independent contractors – can deny them basic rights such as minimum wage, overtime and other benefits. Misclassification also improperly lowers tax revenues to federal and state governments, as create losses for state unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation funds.

More information on misclassification and the effort are available at http://www.dol.gov/misclassification/.

Colorado Loses Millions Each Year to Businesses Misclassifying Workers

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By:ANNA BOIKO-WEYRAUCH

Colorado is losing more and more money each year to employers dodging mandatory unemployment insurance premium payments, according to a Rocky Mountain PBS News analysis. The estimated loss is about $23 million dollars a year since 2011.

Employers are required to pay the premiums on their employees. But, by labeling workers “independent contractors” – or unsupervised workers who make their own schedule and are not directed in their responsibilities – companies don’t have to pay.

The problem occurs when an employee is directed and supervised, but labeled an independent contractor anyway.

…

The construction industry had the highest unpaid insurance premiums and largest number of misclassified workers from 2011 to 2015, according to the analysis of state unemployment insurance audit data. Between 2011 and 2015, random audits of construction companies in Colorado found $1 million dollars in unpaid premiums and 3,433 misclassified workers.

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Judge blocks Bevin’s executive order abolishing commission

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

JUNE 8, 2016 5:09 PM
The Associated Press

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – A Kentucky judge has issued a temporary injunction blocking Gov. Matt Bevin’s executive order that abolished the Workers’ Compensation Nominating Commission and recreated a new one.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd issued the order Wednesday and said it will remain in effect until he issues a final ruling.

Bevin’s press secretary, Amanda Stamper, said the governor’s office believes the ruling is wrong and is considering legal options, including possible appeal.

The commission nominates administrative law judges to be appointed by the governor and who decide if and how much employers have to pay workers who were hurt on the job. Last month Bevin abolished that commission, rewrote the law that governed it and then re-created it with new members, all by executive order.

Two labor unions and four injured workers filed a lawsuit challenging the move.

(See Article)

Miami Beach commission approves minimum wage raise

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

JUNE 8, 2016

MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) – The Miami Beach City commission unanimously approved an ordinance establishing a city-wide minimum living wage increase.

The ordinance, which was first proposed by Mayor Philip Levine and co-sponsored by all six city commissioners, will take effect January 1, 2018, and gradually increase over four years until 2021. The minimum living wage will be first set at $10.31 and will increase over four years to $13.31.

The new minimum wage will apply to all workers employed in the City of Miami Beach and those covered by the federal minimum wage.

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Minimum Wage Hike Approved by San Diego Voters

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

The proposition not only raises the minimum wage to $10.50 but also gives workers five days of paid sick leave.

By Liberty Zabala
Published at 7:43 AM PDT on Jun 8, 2016

 

San Diego voters made their support for a minimum wage increase very clear when they went to the ballot box Tuesday.

Proposition I was approved by 63 percent of voters, clearing the way for an immediate increase to the city’s minimum wage.

The proposition not only raises the minimum wage to $10.50 but also gives workers five days of paid sick leave.

In January, the minimum wage will be boosted to $11.50 an hour.

The state also approved a similar hike to $15 an hour minimum wage.

(Read More)