By WorkersCompensation.com
Providence, RI (WorkersCompensation.com) – A six-agency task force established to protect both workers’ rights and law-abiding businesses that classify their employees properly announced today that it has set up an anonymous telephone tip line for allegations of misclassification.
Staffed by the Rhode Island Division of Taxation, the tip line number is 401-574-8477. Also, the task force is currently building a website to allow people to post tips online.
The chairman of the Joint Task Force on the Underground Economy and Employee Misclassification, DLT Director Charles J. Fogarty, and RI Tax Administrator David M. Sullivan also announced that their agencies have been meeting regularly to share information since the task force came into being in June with the enactment of the Fiscal Year 2015 State Budget. The panel’s purpose is to:
- coordinate joint efforts to combat fraudulent employment activities;
- foster voluntary compliance with the law by educating workers and employers;
- protect the health, safety and benefit rights of workers; and
- protect law-abiding businesses from being undercut by companies that skirt the law. If warranted, an investigation may be referred to the Office of Attorney General.
“One of our major goals is educating, not violating, Rhode Island companies that might unknowingly be misclassifying their workers,” Fogarty said. “At the same time, however, fighting misclassification is an important strategy to promoting shared prosperity in our state