Sweeney Urges Follow Through on Effort to Prevent Misclassification of Workers (NJ)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

June 11, 2019, 10:40 am
Insider NJ

Trenton – The year-long wait for action by the task force established by the governor to stop the misclassification of workers has allowed unscrupulous developers and contractors to continue to ignore the labor laws intended to protect workers’ rights.

In May of 2018, Governor Murphy signed an executive order establishing the Task Force on Employee Misclassification to investigate employee misclassification and develop recommendations to enforce compliance with the laws “ensuring adequate workplace protections and providing employment-related benefits like unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation.”

To date, the task force has failed to produce any public results.

“The construction industry has been plagued by the dishonest and illegal actions of unscrupulous developers and contractors and we are all paying the price,” said Senator Sweeney (D-Gloucester/Salem/Cumberland). “The misclassification of workers has resulted in wage theft, off-the-books payments, underfunding workers’ compensation and avoiding taxes. They are exploiting workers for their own gain.”

Employers often misclassify their employees intentionally in order to reduce labor costs, avoid paying state and federal taxes, and boost their own profits.

“Protecting workers’ rights is an important function of government and there should be follow through on the intended work of the task force,” said Senator Sweeney. “During this delay, workers are losing benefits, wages and other compensation. It should be brought to an end.”

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Troy Singleton offers possible compromise on tax incentives (NJ)

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In a statement released last week, the Burlington County Democrat put forward a framework for a potential compromise that would allow the existing incentives programs to remain in place but with several reforms designed to make them more transparent and accountable.

By David Levinsky
Posted Jun 24, 2019 at 4:22 PM

TRENTON – The dispute over New Jersey’s soon-to-expire tax incentives programs has been described as a political “death match” with billions in tax revenues and the revitalization of one of the state’s poorest cities hanging in the balance.

On one side is Gov. Phil Murphy and progressive groups who argue the current incentive programs are too rich and overused and should be scrapped and replaced with new ones that are capped and targeted toward businesses in growing sectors and startups.

Opposing them are state lawmakers and business groups who want to keep the existing incentives, which they say have proven to be critical for bringing or keeping businesses in New Jersey, particularly the city of Camden and South Jersey counties like Burlington.

So far there has been little common ground between the feuding factions or willingness to compromise.

State Sen. Troy Singleton, D-7th of Delran, wants that to change.

In a statement released last week, the Burlington County Democrat put forward a framework for a potential compromise that would allow the existing incentives programs to remain in place but with several reforms designed to make them more transparent and accountable.

“Those of us who believe that our tax code can be responsibly used to spur the economy and jobs can also fight for accountability, transparency and a results-based program,” Singleton said, listing potential reforms to the existing Grow New Jersey and the Economic Redevelopment and Growth incentives programs.

Grow New Jersey is used to lure and retain businesses and promote job creation, and the Economic Redevelopment and Growth program is designed to reward developers who build in desired locations.

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New Jersey Workers, Advocates Celebrate Passage of Landmark Anti-Wage Theft Legislation (NJ)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

New Jersey Workers, Advocates Celebrate Passage of Landmark
Anti-Wage Theft Legislation

A2903/S1790 Catapults New Jersey to One of the Strongest Wage and Hour laws in the Country in Advance of the July 1st Minimum Wage Hike

INSIDER NJ
June 27, 2019, 4:15 pm

(Trenton, NJ) June 27, 2019: Today, both houses of the New Jersey State legislature passed a landmark anti-wage theft bill (A-2903 / S-1790), sending the legislation to Governor Phil Murphy’s desk. When signed into law, New Jersey’s wage and hour protections will be among the strongest in the country, just in time for the state’s minimum wage hike this July 1st.

The legislation enhances enforcement of state wage and hour laws, ensuring that workers are paid according to the law. Under the legislation, employers that violate wage and hour laws by not paying minimum wage, overtime or failing to pay for hours worked could liable for treble damages and fines. The bill also extends the statute of limitations from two to six years, strengthens joint employer liability where firms use subcontractors, and strengthens anti-retaliation provisions to protect employees who speak out against wage and hour violations.

“For low wage workers, like myself, passing the anti-wage theft bill has been just as important as increasing the minimum wage, because it means workers will actually receive the pay we have rightfully earned. Unscrupulous employers will no longer be rewarded by our laws for not paying workers. On behalf of Make the Road New Jersey, I would like to express our gratitude to Assemblywoman Quijano and Senator Weinberg for their years of commitment to ensuring the anti-wage theft bill becomes law” said Roberto Sanchez, a member of Make the Road New Jersey, a community-based immigrant and workers rights organization based in Elizabeth and Passaic.

“After years of advocacy, we are thrilled that New Jersey will have one of the strongest anti-wage theft law in the nation to protect workers against wage theft while creating a level playing field for employers that do right by their workers,” said Reynalda Cruz, a leader of New Labor, a workers’ center in based in Newark, New Brunswick, and Lakewood.

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Wage theft a problem across industries, study says (NV)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By: Bailey Schulz
Las Vegas Review-Journal
June 3, 2019 – 7:22 am

…

Wage theft is a recurring problem found in a range of industries across the state, according to a 2018 study. Today’s tight labor market isn’t expected to help.

Nevada’s findings

Nevada Labor Commissioner Shannon Chambers said wage theft cases – instances where a company tries to raise profits by forcing employees to work off the clock or not paying them for overtime work – have been on the rise in Nevada over the past four years. But that doesn’t necessarily mean more companies are engaging in illegal practices.
“We are receiving more claims,” Chambers said. “Part of that is because our economy is improving again, and there are more people in the workforce.”

Back wages on the rise

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division collected an average of $835,000 for workers per day in back wages – the difference between what an employee was paid and the amount that employee should have been paid.

 

The Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported that unemployment in Nevada dropped to 4 percent in April, the lowest in 13 years.

Nevada isn’t the only state facing wage theft disputes, according to a 2018 study by national policy resource center Good Jobs First.

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State can protect workers and honest business from wage theft (NY)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

June 07, 2019 07:00 AM
Richard Blum

…

This is not an isolated problem but one that affects low-income workers throughout New York. Wage theft also undermines honest businesses that are forced to compete with rivals who cut corners and cheat their workers. The bad apples game the system to deprive our clients of their legal wages and businesses of an even playing field.

It is estimated that each year workers in New York are unlawfully underpaid by about $1 billion. These violations disproportionately affect female, black, Hispanic and immigrant workers and those with limited educations.

A proposal in the Legislature would correct this. The bill, Securing Wages Earned Against Theft, or SWEAT (A.486/S.2844), will provide workers with legal tools to ensure that their employers will pay them what a court orders. It will also help honest businesses compete.

The legislation would:

* Allow all workers to put a temporary lien on the property of an employer that fails to pay wages, similar to the liens that protect workers in Wisconsin and Maryland.

* Make it easier for workers to attach an employer’s assets at the start of litigation before the property can be sold or transferred, using the standard currently employed in other states, including Connecticut.

* Improve the procedures for holding the largest shareholders of privately held corporations and members of limited liability companies personally liable for wage theft. Current law allows for them to be held accountable, but only if workers employ obscure, difficult procedures.

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New York Legislature Passes Bill Allowing Employees to Place a Lien on Employer’s Property for Wage Claims (NY)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

The National Law Review
Monday, July 1, 2019

The New York Senate and Assembly recently passed Senate Bill S2844B to strengthen current laws for employees who are victim of wage theft to secure and collect unpaid wages for work already performed from their employers. This bill would amend five sections of the law (Lien Law; Labor Law; Attachment under the Civil Practice Law and Rules; the Business Corporations Law; and the Limited Liability Law). If signed by the Governor, this bill would create a broad right for any employee to obtain a lien on an employer’s property based on the allegation of a wage claim and would significantly increase employee power in such disputes.

This bill would expand on current lien remedies and create an “employee lien,” that would allow an employee who has a wage claim to place a lien on his or her employer’s interest in property (real or personal property) for the value of that employee’s wage claim, plus liquidated damages. “Wage claim” is defined as any claim constituting a violation of New York Labor Law § 170 (overtime), § 193 (improper deductions), § 196-d (gratuities) , or § 652 and § 673 (minimum wage). Wage claims also include claims for breach of employment contract where wages are not payed under the contract, and Federal minimum wage claims pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 206 and § 207. The employee’s lien cannot be placed on an employer’s deposit accounts or goods.

Notice of the lien must be filed within three years of the end of employment which gave rise to the wage claim. Real property notice must be filed in the clerk’s office of the county where the property is located. Personal property notice must be filed with a financing statement pursuant to section 9-501 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Employee’s liens may be filed by the employee or the New York State Department of Labor and the New York Attorney General for wage claims that are subject of their investigations, court actions or administrative agency actions. Notice of an employee’s lien must be served upon the employer within five days before or 30 days after filing notice. The lien is valid for one year unless extension is filed with the county clerk. If no action is commenced during the extension period, the lien will be automatically extinguished unless extended by a court order.

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Valley Stream contractor gets 30 days for wage theft (NY)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Posted June 11, 2019
LIHERALD.COM

Valley Stream contractor Vickram Mangru and his wife Gayatri of AVM Construction Corp. were sentenced on June 10 for their roles in failing to pay more than $280,000 in wages to laborers working on a publicly funded construction project in New York City, according to a news release from the New York attorney general.

Vickram was ordered to serve 30 days in jail, followed by three years of probation by Bronx County Supreme Court Justice James McCarty for a felony charge of failure to pay prevailing wages and benefits. Gayatari was sentenced to a conditional discharge as result of misdemeanor conviction on the same charge.

Both had pleaded guilty on Feb. 11, and have paid $80,000 in restitution to three workers. The couple still owes a remaining $202,000, and are barred from bidding on or being awarded a public works contract in New York for five years.

“New Yorkers who work on publicly-funded projects deserve to be paid a prevailing wage,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “Employers who underpay their employees, and attempt to evade wage laws have no business in the state of New York. My office will continue to ensure that all New Yorkers – no matter their trade – are paid a fair wage.”

Between December 2012 and February 2015, Vickram, owner of Vick Construction and operator of AVM Construction Corp. had reportedly failed to pay several of his employees prevailing wages, as required by state law, for construction projects and repair work at a number of public schools in the Bronx.

Vickram had reportedly paid his workers $120 and $160 a day for 40 to 50-hour work weeks, which falls far below the prevailing wage schedules set for publicly funded projects of that nature, the release read. To hide the underpayments, he falsified certified payroll records and reports submitted to the New York City Department of Education to make it look as if he were following the required prevailing wage schedules.

The city comptroller had initially barred the couple from being awarded public contracts after discovering the under payments, but referred the case to state prosecutors when it was found that they had created a new company in an attempt to continue operating in the city.

State prosecutors picked up the case after the city comptroller had barred the couple from being awarded public contracts, and then found that they had created another company to continue doing business, and was allegedly still committing labor violations.

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Case study links inexperience to injuries in Tennessee construction industry (TN)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Safety & Health Magazine
May 29, 2019

Knoxville, TN – Nearly half of the construction workers in Tennessee who were injured over a recent two-year period had been on the job less than a year, according to a recent case study report from the Center for Construction Research and Training – as known as CPWR.

Analyzing more than 9,000 statewide workers’ compensation claims for injuries that occurred in 2014 and 2015, researchers at the Construction Industry Research and Policy Center at the University of Tennessee found that 44.5% of the claims were from workers who had less than a year of experience in construction, while 30.1% were from workers who had less than six months of experience.

The biggest takeaway is “the persistence of this injury-tenure relationship across time,” Edward Taylor, study author and CIRPC executive director, told Safety & Health. “We saw in the literature that 100 years ago, a steel company reported that their employees with less than 30 days tenure had an injury rate of 12 times the rest of their employees. Here we are in 2019 and the results of our study show, in construction, 44.5% of injuries occur to employees in their first year.”

According to 2016 national data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 24% of construction workers are injured during their first year on the job. Likewise, the report notes that the findings are comparable to data in states with similar populations. In Washington, over the same two years, 47.5% of injuries occurred among construction workers who had less than a year on the job, while 37.1% of the injured had been on a job six months or less. In Ohio, those percentages were 45.6 and 33.6, respectively.

Injuries to the lower back, finger, shoulder and hand were most common – accounting for 55.8% of the top 10 body parts injured.

Taylor and his colleagues recommend that employers put additional emphasis on the onboarding of new employees, along with pairing up new workers with an experienced, trusted mentor. “It’s especially important that [workers] learn to recognize hazards as part of that educational process,” he said.

In addition, wearing personal protective equipment can help reduce the number of eye and hand injuries, along with cuts. “Those might be easily preventable,” Taylor said.

(See Article)

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Krizek presses for prevailing wage law in Virginia (VA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

June 28, 2019
By State Del. Paul Krizek (44th District)

Virginia is one of just eight states that has never had a prevailing wage law. A majority of states do.

Construction workers on projects covered by prevailing wage laws must be paid the minimum “prevailing” wage and benefit levels that vary by occupation and geographical areas.

The best known prevailing wage law is the federal Davis-Bacon Act, a bipartisan bill from 1931 that applies to all construction with $2,000 or more in federal funding.

Previously, I introduced a prevailing wage bill in the General Assembly in an effort to prevent low bidders on state works projects from undermining local area wages.

Though it didn’t pass, I expect that with a majority democratic General Assembly after the November elections, such a bill has much better odds of passage.

That is a good thing for not just local construction workers who won’t have to worry about their wages going down, but also to our Virginia economy, which will benefit because it supports local businesses with increased productivity, safety and quality workmanship, and provides the taxpayer with high-quality public works projects.

Three things can happen when big construction jobs are bid out without a prevailing wage. First, cut-rate contractors from out of state, or out of the country, may come in hiring less-trained workers and undermining the local market rate, thus bringing down wages for all local workers similarly situated; second, they take taxpayer dollars back to their home states; and finally, they do not invest in worker training.

The old argument that a prevailing wage raises overall construction costs is a fallacy, as higher construction wages are often offset by greater productivity, better technologies, and other employer savings, such as through increased safety.

In fact, in Ohio, “The Economic, Fiscal, and Social Effects of Ohio’s Prevailing Wage Law” peer-reviewed research study, which took 16 years, showed that there was no increase in construction costs based on their prevailing wage.

Furthermore, prevailing wage laws increase the supply of apprenticeships and worker skills. Because, without a prevailing wage law, most construction workers change employers when they move from project to project, so employers have little incentive to invest in worker training.

Finally, worker safety increases because the skilled workers know what they are doing on dangerous work sites, and that saves on workers’ compensation costs and work hours lost to injuries.

The solution is to pay a prevailing wage rate that would be determined by the Commissioner of Labor for public contracts on the basis of applicable prevailing wage rate determinations made by the U.S. Secretary of Labor under the provisions of the federal Davis-Bacon Act.

Then, these workers will have increased consumer purchasing power and spend the bulk of their money in our local community.

They pay taxes locally and at the state level, so it’s no surprise that states with strong prevailing wage laws have more money for schools, healthcare facilities, infrastructure, public safety, and vital services for our communities and our fellow citizens.

Enacting a prevailing wage will grow the economic pie for all Virginians. I’m proud to have patroned this legislation and I look forward to its passage, as it is a top priority of mine.

(See Article)