Department of Labor Looks to Level the Playing Field

written by trigon
08-04-2010
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In a move that will affect most American corporations, the Department of Labor plans to require companies to prepare and adopt compliance plans aimed at ensuring they do not violate wage, job safety and equal employment laws.

The effort, aimed in part at reducing the incidence of employers not paying overtime and improperly classifying workers as independent contractors, will require them to document many of their decisions and share that information with their workers and the government.

In general, employers increasingly are classifying primarily low-wage workers as independent contractors instead of employees in the construction industry. By doing so, employers can issue these workers 1099 forms instead of W-2 forms to report their income. Employer misclassification of workers as independent contractors instead of employees negatively impacts employers, employees, and taxpayers, according to an AFL-CIO attorney.

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