Victory for Workers: Cook Co. Board Passes Anti-Wage Theft Law (VIDEO)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on March 31, 2015

Ashlee Rezin

Wednesday, February 11th, 2015, 11:35am

The Cook County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously passed legislation that aims to protect employee wages and force businesses to more closely follow labor laws.

Under the ordinance, companies or business owners found guilty of wage theft are barred for five years from obtaining Cook County procurement contracts, business licenses or property tax incentives. Also, companies pursuing business with the county will now have to certify compliance with federal and state wage and labor laws.

“[Wage theft] is unfair to hard-working employees and their families and it’s unfair to competing businesses which are operating within the confines of the law,” said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, shortly after Tuesday’s vote. “The legislation passed today will make Cook County a national leader targeting wage theft.”

(Read More)

Cook County OKs ordinance to combat wage theft

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on March 31, 2015

By Alejandro Cancino

February 10, 2015, 4:39 PM

Cook County commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved an ordinance aimed at deterring businesses from engaging in wage theft. Wage theft has been defined as having employees work off the clock, for example. It is a violation of labor law.

Businesses that have broken state or federal wage and labor laws would be disqualified from receiving property tax abatements, business licenses or county contracts. Companies seeking to do business with Cook County also would be required to file an affidavit certifying they have not violated any wage and labor laws.

“We are hoping companies would think twice about engaging in wage theft,” said Edward Olivieri, a spokesman for Commissioner Jeff Tobolski, who introduced the ordinance.

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ILEPI Releases New Economic Commentary on Impact of Prevailing Wage Law Repeal

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on January 30, 2015

January 28, 2015

Recent commentary has just been published by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute. See below for key findings and a copy of the full report.

Key Findings:

· Repealing a prevailing wage law will not grow a state’s construction industry

· Repeal of a state prevailing wage law will further detach worker productivity from worker wages, contributing to the growing problem of income inequality in America.

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Misclassified Employees Force Taxpayers To Subsidize Costs, Harm Economy

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on August 25, 2014

CHICAGO – Illinois employers wrongly classified nearly 20,000 of their workers as independent contractors rather than full-time employees in 2013, skipping out on more than $250 million in wages and contributions to funds that support laid-off and injured workers, the Illinois Department of Employment Security said today.

Taxpayers ultimately cover the costs of misclassified workers because it robs the state of payroll taxes normally removed from a worker’s paycheck. Those funds typically are not removed from payments given to independent contractors. In some cases, a homeowner could be responsible for costs incurred if a misclassified worker is injured while working on the owner’s dwelling.

“The consequences of misclassification are easy to see when a worker is hurt or an honest business owner is under-bid for a project. What hides in plain sight are the socialized costs that occur when a dishonest employer deceives a customer and cuts corners by not playing by the rules,” IDES Director Jay Rowell said.

“The labor movement is about creating strong communities and protecting workers from unscrupulous employers,” said Chicago Federation of Labor President Jorge Ramirez. “Tactics like worker misclassification erodes that by violating workers’ employment and labor rights.”

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(PDF Release)

16th Annual NAFC Conference Registration

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on July 9, 2014

The National Alliance for Fair Contracting will be holding its 16th Annual Conference this year in the lakeside city of Chicago, IL, September 17-19, 2014.

The NAFC Conference provides a national forum for those committed to combating noncompliance of state and federal public contracting laws and draws attendance from contractors, labor unions, fair contracting organizations, attorneys and various officials from local, state and federal governments around the nation.

This year’s conference will be hosted at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers. NAFC Chairman Rocco Davis and the rest of NAFC’s Board of Directors are diligently planning content and speakers to ensure this will be our most successful conference to date.

US Department of Labor’s OSHA Cites Duce Construction for Failing to Protect Employees from Trench Dangers

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on June 24, 2014

SAVOY, Ill. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Duce Construction Co. with four safety violations, including three serious and one willful, for failing to protect workers from trenching hazards at a job site on East Airport Road in Savoy. OSHA opened the February 2014 inspection under theNational Emphasis Program for trenching and excavation. Proposed penalties total $59,500.

“It is unacceptable for Duce Construction to allow workers into an unprotected trench. Each year, trench collapses result in numerous deaths and serious injuries,” said Thomas Bielema, OSHA’s area director in Peoria. “Employers that specialize in this type of work must take all necessary precautions to ensure their employees have safe working conditions.”

There were two trench boxes used in the excavation. Workers were exposed to soil avalanching and cave-in hazards because the company failed to ensure that the boxes were used correctly. A willful violation was cited for failing to ensure workers were protected from these hazards. A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.

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Collaborative Development: The Benefits of Public-Private Partnership

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on May 29, 2014

A new ILEPI Policy Brief, released this morning, investigates the pros and cons of public-private partnerships in the construction industry.

The report, Collaborative Development: The Pros and Cons of P3s on Construction Projects (PDF), finds that public-private partnerships (P3s)- such as the proposed Illiana Expressway– offer the potential for significant cost savings for the public sector. P3s allow governments to increase internal investment, capitalize on the efficiencies and innovations of private companies, and build infrastructure slightly less expensively and slightly more quickly. For the private sector, P3s provide stable assets (infrastructure facilities) with predictable long-term returns from user fees for portfolio diversification. P3s also allow private entities, backed by the government, to borrow cheaply.

The Policy Brief utilizes case studies to demonstrate how P3s may be mutually beneficial and discusses the expected positive benefits of three potential P3 projects in the Midwest.

(Read More)(Copy of Report)

United States: Illinois Supreme Court Upholds One Of The Nation’s Strictest Worker Misclassification Laws; Employers May Face Millions Of Dollars In Penalties

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on March 12, 2014

Worker misclassification is now a bet-the-company issue.

On February 21, 2004, the Illinois Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge to Illinois’s Employee Classification Act (the “ECA”), a law that defines most individuals who perform construction-related services as employees of the company who retains them, even if the relationship is set up as an independent contractor relationship. Illinois’s ECA is one of the strictest worker misclassification statutes in the country.

Bartlow v. Costigan arose out of a preliminary finding that a small construction firm, Jack’s Roofing, had misclassified 10 workers as independent contractors instead of employees for periods ranging from 8 to 160 days in 2008. The Illinois Department of Labor calculated a potential penalty for having misclassified these 10 workers as $1.6 Million. Under the Illinois misclassification law, each day that each worker is misclassified is considered a separate violation, with fines of up to $1,000 for a first offense. Willful violations result in triple damages. Subsequent violations double the penalties again.

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(Please note that the date of this court decision is actually February 21, 2014)