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

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Date: 09/13/2016
Release Number: 16-1764-NAT

Participants: U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division
Oklahoma Employment Security Commission

Partnership description: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding intended to protect employees’ rights and level the playing field for employers by preventing worker 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 is working with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and 34 other 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 lowers tax revenue to federal and state governments improperly, and creates losses for state unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation funds.

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US DEPARTMENT OF LABOR SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH NEBRASKA DEPARTMENT OF LABOR TO PROTECT WORKERS FROM MISCLASSIFICATION

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

WHD News Brief: 09/01/2016
Release Number: 16-1410-NAT

Participants: U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division
Nebraska Department of Labor

Partnership description: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and the Nebraska Department of Labor 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 is working with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and 33 other 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, and creates losses for state unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation funds.

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USDOL Wage & Hour Division – Myths About Misclassification – Updated

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Dr. David Weil
Administrator
Wage and Hour Division
9/7/2016

As you know, the misclassification of employees as independent contractors is a serious problem our country is facing, affecting workers, employers, and the entire economy.

Misclassified employees often are denied access to critical benefits and protections to which they are entitled, such as the minimum wage, overtime compensation, family and medical leave, unemployment insurance, and safe workplaces. Employee misclassification generates substantial losses to the federal, state, and local governments in the form of lower tax revenues, as well as to state unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation funds. It hurts taxpayers and undermines the economy.

The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division wants to clear up confusion about who is an employee and who is an independent contractor. Visit our Myths About Misclassification webpage and download our one-page flyer Get the Facts on Misclassification to view common myths and the truths that dispel each myth.

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(Fact Sheet)

NLRB Memo Lays Out Misclassification Theory

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

August 30, 2016
By Lawrence E. Dubé

Aug. 29 – The National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel released a legal memorandum explaining his theory that an employer committed an unfair labor practice by misclassifying employee drivers as independent contractors (Pac. 9 Transp., Inc. , NLRB Div. of Advice, No. 21-CA-150875, 12/18/15 [released 8/26/16]).

The unfair labor practice theory involving worker misclassification hasn’t previously been tested before the NLRB or the courts, but the memorandum shows that’s the approach the general counsel will likely follow in other independent contractor disputes.

In the memorandum released Aug. 26, the NLRB’s Division of Advice wrote that by misinforming drivers they were independent contractors, Pacific 9 Transportation Inc. interfered with the drivers’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act to organize or engage in concerted activity for their mutual aid or protection.

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State fines Texas-based construction company $767K for misclassifying workers

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Sep 20, 2016, 7:29am HST
Duane Shimogawa

The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations has fined Texas-based R&R Construction Services $767,095 for the misclassification of its workers as independent contractors that are part of the Maile Sky Court hotel-condominium redevelopment project in Waikiki.

The state said Monday that R&R has 20 days to appeal the citations.

“Law-abiding contractors who pay their fair share face unfair competition, and workers suffer when deprived of their rights and benefits,” Linda Chu Takayama, director of DLIR, said in a statement. “The visitor industry and a pleasant visitor experience is important to Hawaii, but Hawaii’s working people and law-abiding contractors need to benefit fairly.”

R&R allegedly misclassified 65 construction workers as independent contractors and, by doing so, it avoided requirements to provide unemployment, workers compensation, temporary disability and prepaid health care insurances, according to the state.

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AG Healey Issues First-Ever Labor Day Report on Efforts to Combat Wage Theft, Revamps Workplace Rights Website with Innovative Features

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Report Shows $3.8 Million in Restitution and Penalties Recovered on Behalf of Workers in FY 16; New Easy-to-Navigate Website includes Searchable Public Data, Content in Various Languages

For Immediate Release – September 06, 2016
Media Contact – Emalie Gainey

BOSTON – To commemorate Labor Day and as a part of her continued efforts to protect workers and their families in Massachusetts, Attorney General Maura Healey today issued the first-ever Labor Day Report on her office’s efforts to combat and prevent wage theft. The report shows that in fiscal year 2016 alone, the office recovered $3.8 million in restitution and penalties on behalf of working people in Massachusetts.

AG Healey also announced her revamped workplace rights website with a new design and innovative features, including searchable public data and content in various languages. The new easy-to-navigate website will allow workers to better understand their rights and for employers, their obligations under state law.

“Wage theft is far too common, especially among vulnerable workers,” AG Healey said. “Our office will continue our efforts to aggressively use enforcement actions and educational outreach to help combat and prevent such theft. In Massachusetts, getting paid what you are owed is not a privilege, it is a right under the law. Everyone deserves an opportunity to participate fairly in our economy.”

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(See Full PDF Report Here)

Hidden NY payroll card fees eliminated

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Lindsey Riback, The Journal News
WGRZ 9:01 AM. EST September 09, 2016

ALBANY — Protections are now in place preventing low-wage workers from losing out on their money.

New York is requiring payroll-card companies to provide employees with access to at least one local fee-less ATM near their home or work, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday.

In addition, account maintenance, overdraft and inactivity fees will be removed and employers will no longer receive financial benefits for paying their workers via a payroll card, Cuomo said.

Roughly 200,000 low-wage workers in New York are paid through payroll cards, which had contained withdrawal fees or charges for viewing account balances.

In many cases, the employees do not have a bank account and are required to pay ATM fees in order to withdraw their money, in addition to the initial card fees, Cuomo said.

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EXCLUSIVE: Attorney General’s office recovers nearly $5.7M in owed pay for New York low-wage workers

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

KENNETH LOVETT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, September 5, 2016, 4:00 AM

ALBANY – State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office recovered nearly $5.7 million in owed pay and damages for more than 3,300 low-wage workers since last Labor Day, the Daily News has learned.

The recoveries are included in a third annual Labor Day report Schneiderman’s office is set to release Monday.

The recovered wages by Schneiderman’s Labor Bureau went to fast-food employees, home health aides, taxi drivers, restaurant employees and construction workers.

“As Attorney General, I remain steadfastly committed to ensuring that workers are paid for the work they do, that their pay lifts them out of poverty, and that undue obstacles aren’t placed in their path to job security and economic advancement,” Schneiderman said.

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Oregon bans janitorial company from government jobs over wage theft

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

 

By Bethany Barnes
on September 28, 2016 at 4:40 PM

A Hillsboro janitorial company is forever blacklisted from government work after an investigation by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries found widespread underpayment of workers.

As part of the settlement, Cornerstone Janitorial must pay $144,000 in damages to 46 workers. That’s on top of almost $200,000 in back wages collected by the bureau last year, in connection with Cornerstone employees’ work on 16 different taxpayer-funded projects.

Cornerstone has worked as a cleanup subcontractor for some of the region’s biggest construction firms in the region. The investigation involved health and education related projects in Portland, Eugene, Stayton, Junction City, Salem, Keizer, Philomath, Vernonia, Corvallis, Monmouth and Wilsonville, according to the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries press release.

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St. Petersburg City Council seeks to bolster program to fight wage theft

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Charlie Frago, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, September 15, 2016 1:25pm

ST. PETERSBURG – The city has had a wage-theft program for a year, but it hasn’t worked as well as hoped.

Last month, the program’s coordinator outlined some tweaks that would strengthen enforcement and help drive recalcitrant employers to the negotiating table.

On Sept. 8, City Council members again tried to suss out how to make the fledgling program stronger.

Amy Foster wondered if exempting complainants from Florida’s Sunshine Law might encourage more people to formally file complaints with the city. Right now, less than half of those who call the city’s office actually file a complaint.

Many of those people are afraid of retaliation or ending up in the newspaper or other media, Foster said. Charlie Gerdes countered by pointing out if victims were exempted from public records laws, offending companies would be, too. And any exemption from the Sunshine Law would need state approval.

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