NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has signed a memorandum of understanding that allows his office to cooperate with both the federal and New York Departments of Labor to battle worker misclassification.
The three offices will share information in an effort to catch employers that wrongly classify employees as independent contractors.
The move puts New York on board a federal initiative launched in 2010 as part of the Obama administration’s “Middle Class Task Force.” To date, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Utah and Washington have signed similar agreements. The initiative claims to have collected $18.2 million in back wages for over 19,000 employees.