Employee Misclassification Prevention Act

This is S.bill 3254 that has 8 Senate Cosponsors and the chief sponsor is Senator Brown from OH.  The Status: Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Hearings held.  This bill has a long way to go in the few days we have left in the session.  Please express your concerns to your Senator.  I will keep you posted.

Bill

Employee Misclassification Prevention Act - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to require every person to: (1) keep records of non-employees (contractors) who perform labor or services (except substitute work), including through an entity such as a trust, estate, partnership, association, company, or corporation, for remuneration; and (2) provide certain notice to each new employee and new non-employee, including their classification as anemployee or non-employee and information concerning their rights under the law.

Makes it unlawful for any person to: (1) discharge or otherwise discriminate against an individual (including an employee) who has opposed any practice, or filed a complaint or instituted any proceeding related to this Act, including with respect to an individual's status as an employee or non-employee; and (2) fail to classify accurately an employee or non-employee.

Doubles the amount of liquidated damages for maximum hours, minimum wage, and notice of classification violations by an employer. Subjects a person who: (1) violates such requirements (including recordkeeping requirements) to a civil penalty of up to $1,100; or (2) repeatedly or willfully violates such requirements to a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for each violation.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to establish a webpage on the Department of Labor website that summarizes the rights of employees under this Act and other appropriate information.

Amends the Social Security Act to require, as a condition for a federal grant for the administration of state unemployment compensation, for the state's unemployment compensation law to include a provision for: (1) auditing programs that identify employers that have not registered under the state law or that are paying unreported compensation where the effect is to exclude employees from unemployment compensation coverage; and (2) establishing administrative penalties for misclassifying employees or paying unreported unemployment compensation to employees.

Requires any office, administration, or division of the Department of Labor to report any misclassification of an employee by a person subject to the FLSA that it discovers to the Department's Wage and Hour Division (WHD). Authorizes the WHD to report such information to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

1 comment (Add your own)

1. David Avakian wrote:
It looks like the DOL is plannning to close the loophole that many businesses are using to avoid the necessity for compliance with the multitude federal laws and regulations required of employers. On the plus side, this could have a positive impact on the demand for our services. On the negative side, this is one more step to limit an individual's freedom to offer services in a free market.

Mon, July 12, 2010 @ 8:04 AM

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