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States pursue efforts to crack down on misclassification of employees
Officials in Connecticut and Vermont recently announced new measures and legislation aimed at cracking down on employers who misclassify workers as independent contractors to avoid paying workers' compensation and other taxes.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal unveiled the recommendations of a state commission on worker misclassification. The commission's proposed measures include increasing the penalty from $300 per violation to $300 a day per violation, strengthening criminal sanctions against misclassification, and joint investigations of misclassification complaints with other state agencies. The commission is comprised of representatives from labor unions, industry associations, and other business groups. In its first year, the commission initiated joint state agency investigations into suspected violations of worker misclassification laws, created a single database for all misclassification complaints submitted to state agencies, and agreed to establish a Web site to educate workers about misclassification.
In addition to tough fines on employers for misclassification, H.B. 647 mandates that the state contract only with employers who obey workers' comp law, protects whistleblower employees, and creates a confidential online workers' comp abuse reporting system. The bill was spawned from the state's Workers' Compensation Employee Classification, Coding, and Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which concluded its 18-month study in November. The bill heads to the Senate for consideration. Read more at the WORKERSCOMP ForumTM homepage. May 10, 2010 Copyright 2010© LRP Publications |
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