Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo announced today that they have filed the first lawsuit under a 2021 law that permits the State to file suit in New Jersey Superior Court against employers who have misclassified workers as independent contractors when they are, in fact, employees.
Showing posts with label Independent contractor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Independent contractor. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
Thursday, June 1, 2023
NJ Targets Rampant Misclassification of Drywall Workers
In its second strategic enforcement initiative, focusing on the drywall industry, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) reached a first-of-its-kind enhanced compliance agreement with Donald Drywall, L.L.C. of Lakewood after investigators found the subcontractor had committed numerous wage and hour, earned sick leave, and employee misclassification violations.
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
Uber Pays $100M Fine in NJ Driver Misclassification Case
Uber Technologies Inc. and a subsidiary have submitted a $100 million payment to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s (NJDOL’s) Unemployment Trust Fund after an audit found the ride-share companies improperly classified hundreds of thousands of drivers as independent contractors, depriving them of crucial safety-net benefits such as unemployment, temporary disability, and family leave insurance, and failed to make required contributions toward unemployment, temporary disability, and workforce development.
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Stop-Work Order Issued to NJ Contractor for Misclassification Violations
The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) issued a stop-work order to Galo Contractors Group, LLC, on March 9 for six alleged violations at a worksite in Keansburg.
Saturday, March 13, 2021
US Department Of Labor Announces Proposals To Rescind Two Rules That Undermine Worker Protections Against Unfair Pay Practices
The U.S. Department of Labor today announced proposals to rescind two final rules that would significantly weaken protections afforded to American workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Wednesday, July 10, 2019
NJ Governor’s Report on Misclassification
Governor Phil Murphy today released a comprehensive report from the Task Force on Employee Misclassification, vowing to intensify efforts to curtail the widespread and illegal practice of misclassifying workers as independent contractors instead of employees, which cheats some workers out of benefits and wages, hurts law-abiding business owners, and costs the state tens of millions of dollars a year in lost employment-related tax revenue.
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
NJ Labor Department, USDOL Ink Agreement to Work Together to Protect Businesses and End Exploitation of Workers through Misclassification
The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the U.S Department of Labor pledged a historic new level of cooperation to protect New Jersey’s economy by signing an agreement on August 10, 2018 to work together to end illegal employee misclassification.
Saturday, April 2, 2016
Is Social Insurance in Our Nation's Future?
The changing economy presents both new concepts and new challenges. Over 60% of today's
children will be employed in jobs that don't even exist now. An interesting article explores whether social insurance, of which workers' compensation is a part, will even exist the future.
Thursday, July 30, 2015
The Plot Thickens As Uber Turns to Leasing Vehicles
Uber is about to change "the rules" yet again by now leasing vehicles to its drivers. While there is great uncertainty of how "employment status" will be interpreted going forward in the new sharing economy, one thing is for certain, the concept will continue to evolve and redefine the traditional workplace.
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Misclassification: US Dept of Labor Issues Interpretation of Employment Status
The Application of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s “Suffer or Permit” Standard in the Identification of Employees Who Are Misclassified as Independent Contractors.
Sounding very much like a workers' compensation standardized employment status test, the US Department of Labor has added its interpretation this developing area of the law. This memo will has obvious added consequences to state interpretation to this issue.
Sounding very much like a workers' compensation standardized employment status test, the US Department of Labor has added its interpretation this developing area of the law. This memo will has obvious added consequences to state interpretation to this issue.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
NJ Supreme Court: Superior Court has jurisdiction to determine employment status
The NJ Supreme Court ruled that the NJ Division of Workers' Compensation does not have exclusive jurisdiction in determining employment status. In reversing the decision of the Appellate Decision, the NJ Supreme Court held that when a claim petition is not filed with the NJ Division of Workers' Compensation, the Superior Court has exclusive jurisdiction over who is an employee versus independent contractor.
"We conclude that when, as here, there is a genuine dispute regarding the worker's employment status, and the plaintiff elects to file a complaint only in the Law Division of the Superior Court, the Superior Court has concurrent jurisdiction to resolve the dispute."
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Pending Before the NJ Supreme Court
A-89-13 Estate of Myroslava Kotsovska v. Saul Liebman (073861)
Should the trial court have transferred this wrongful death and survival action to the Division of Workers' Compensation for a determination of the decedent's employment status where defendant raised the workers' compensation bar as an affirmative defense?
Certification granted: 5/19/14
Posted: 5/20/14
Argued: 3/16/15
Case below:
Should the trial court have transferred this wrongful death and survival action to the Division of Workers' Compensation for a determination of the decedent's employment status where defendant raised the workers' compensation bar as an affirmative defense?
Certification granted: 5/19/14
Posted: 5/20/14
Argued: 3/16/15
Case below:
Argued March 20, 2013. Decided Dec. 26, 2013.
Background: Estate of driver's home health aid filed wrongful death action against driver, stemming from accident in which driver accelerated vehicle while parking, hitting home health aid. Following jury trial, the Superior Court, Law Division, Union County, 2012 WL 3965151, determined home health aid was independent contractor, found in favor of estate, and denied driver's motion for new trial. Driver appealed.
Holdings: The Superior Court, Appellate Division, Accurso, J.A.D., held that:
(1) Division of Workers' Compensation was proper forum for resolution of whether home health aid was driver's employee;
(2) jury instruction as to whether home health aid was employee or independent contractor did not adequately convey the law;
(3) taking judicial notice that person would suffer pain if leg was traumatically amputated while conscious was harmless error; and
(4) damages would be preserved pending remand.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Victims of Misclassification
Misclassification is a major issue for workers' compensation programs. Misclassified workers are those who should be considered employes but have been denied employment status. This post is shared by from the nytimes.com
.LAST month, a Michigan construction worker named Matt Anderson testified in a Senate hearing about being a victim of employee misclassification. Mr. Anderson said that his employer forced him, after six years as an employee, to switch to “independent contractor” status. Though the move stripped Mr. Anderson of basic employee rights and protections, he went along with the change, he said, because “my fellow workers and I had families to support and we saw how bad the economy was.”
Today, millions of American workers in a wide variety of sectors, from construction and trucking to I.T. and professional services, are victims of misclassification, a tactic employers use to avoid paying taxes and providing benefits that are guaranteed to employees, such as workers’ compensation, overtime pay, minimum wage and unemployment insurance.
In 2000, a United States Department of Labor study estimated that up to 30 percent of employers misclassify workers. This year, the Treasury Department’s inspector general concluded that the problem had worsened. Fifteen states have now teamed up with the Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service to reduce misclassification through information sharing and joint...
[Click here to see the rest of this post]
.LAST month, a Michigan construction worker named Matt Anderson testified in a Senate hearing about being a victim of employee misclassification. Mr. Anderson said that his employer forced him, after six years as an employee, to switch to “independent contractor” status. Though the move stripped Mr. Anderson of basic employee rights and protections, he went along with the change, he said, because “my fellow workers and I had families to support and we saw how bad the economy was.”
Today, millions of American workers in a wide variety of sectors, from construction and trucking to I.T. and professional services, are victims of misclassification, a tactic employers use to avoid paying taxes and providing benefits that are guaranteed to employees, such as workers’ compensation, overtime pay, minimum wage and unemployment insurance.
In 2000, a United States Department of Labor study estimated that up to 30 percent of employers misclassify workers. This year, the Treasury Department’s inspector general concluded that the problem had worsened. Fifteen states have now teamed up with the Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service to reduce misclassification through information sharing and joint...
[Click here to see the rest of this post]
Friday, November 15, 2013
Bill aims to protect workers wrongly labeled as independent contractors
The hunt for cheap labor has led to a rash of payroll fraud by companies scraping for any advantage in a sputtering economy, lawmakers say.
As a result, they say, American taxpayers are cheated out of millions, workers are underpaid and the injured are denied workers compensation. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill introduced legislation Tuesday, in conjunction with a Senate hearing, in an effort to curtail what they say has become a widespread practice that hurts not only workers but also law-abiding companies that can’t compete with the bad actors. The issue is common in fields such as those for janitors, homecare workers and cable installers. But it’s especially prevalent in the construction industry, where a company can save as much as 30 percent of its costs by wrongfully reporting its workers as independent contractors instead of employees. The practice is known as misclassification. In the most basic terms, if the employer is directing the worker, including setting his or her schedule, telling the worker what to do, when to do it and how to do it, the worker should be listed as an employee, according to federal rules. By listing workers as independent contractors, companies can avoid paying insurance, taxes and overtime. It also shields companies from responsibilities of having to protect those working for them. Matt Anderson of Ira Township, Mich., needs only to look at his left hand to see the potential... |
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Christie Vetoes Bill That Would Have Prevented Some Truck Drivers From Being Treated As Independent Contractors
Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill that would have protected some truck drivers from being inappropriately classified as “independent contractors,” drawing criticism from one of the bill’s sponsors. “Because of the Governor’s veto, unethical companies will continue to skirt the law by gaming the system to avoid paying their fair share of taxes,” said Assembly Deputy Speaker John S. Wisniewski. “In doing so, they will also continue to deprive their drivers of Social Security, Medicare, Workers’ Compensation and Unemployment benefits.” This “is just the latest example of the Governor siding against hard working New Jerseyans. His veto keeps in place a system that is unfair to workers and unfair to those companies that play by the rules,” Wisniewski said. The bill passed by a 43-30-5 vote in the Assembly and a 21-17 vote in the state Senate, so lawmakers are unlikely to override the governor’s veto. Under the bill, “drayage,” or short-distance truckers, and parcel delivery drivers could not be classified as “independent contractors” unless the employers can show that the workers are truly independent. The businesses would have to demonstrate to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development that the workers are free from their day-to-day control, that the service is outside the usual course or place of business and that the employee is customarily... |
Monday, December 5, 2011
US Labor Department, Colorado Department of Labor and Employment sign agreement to reduce misclassification of employees as independent contractors
Nancy J. Leppink, deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, and Ellen Golombek, executive director of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, signed a memorandum of understanding Dec. 5 regarding the improper classification of employees as independent contractors. Following the signing, Leppink and Golombek hosted a press teleconference during which they discussed how the U.S. Department of Labor and the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment will embark on new efforts, guided by this memorandum, to protect the rights of employees and level the playing field for responsible employers by reducing the practice conducted by some businesses of misclassifying employees. This partnership is the 11th of its kind for the U.S. Department of Labor.
"This memorandum of understanding helps us send a message: We're standing united to end the practice of misclassifying employees," said Leppink. "This is an important step toward making sure that the American dream is still available for employees and responsible employers alike."
"Misclassification costs everyone," said Golombek. "It destabilizes the business climate by creating an unlevel playing field and causing responsible businesses to suffer unfair competition. The efforts we will be launching with the U.S. Department of Labor will promote accountability that Colorado employers and employees will welcome."
Employee misclassification is a growing problem. In 2010, the Wage and Hour Division collected nearly $4 million in back wages for minimum wage and overtime violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act that resulted from employees being misclassified as independent contractors or otherwise not treated as employees.
Business models that attempt to change, obscure or eliminate the employment relationship are not inherently illegal, unless they are used to evade compliance with federal labor law. The misclassification of employees as something else, such as independent contractors, presents a serious problem, as these employees often are denied access to critical benefits and protections — such as family and medical leave, overtime compensation, minimum wage pay and Unemployment Insurance — to which they are entitled. In addition, misclassification can create economic pressure for law-abiding business owners, who often find it difficult to compete with those who are skirting the law.Employee misclassification also generates substantial losses for state Unemployment Insurance and workers' compensation funds.
Memorandums of understanding with state government agencies arose as part of the U.S. Department of Labor's Misclassification Initiative, which was launched under the auspices of Vice President Biden's Middle Class Task Force with the goal of preventing, detecting and remedying employee misclassification. Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Utah and Washington have signed similar agreements. More information is available on the U.S. Department of Labor's misclassification Web page at http://www.dol.gov/misclassification.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Who Is An Independent Contractor: Deciding In a Multi-District Litigation Consolidation
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Transferee Court designated by the Judicial Pannel on Mutli-District Litigation (JPMDL) has the discretion to make a decision on "independent contractor" status. The Circuit Court of Appeals denied a mandamus action and affirmed the decision of the JPMDL.
"This petition for the extraordinary writ of mandamus presents an important question concerning the management of appeals in multidistrict litigation under 28 U.S.C. § 1407 when portions of some cases must be returned to their original transferor courts. In this case, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) chose one of two alternative courses. The JPML chose to ensure that each case produces one appeal of all issues in that case, rather than using partial final judgments under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b) to ensure that all related appeals would go to the same circuit. As we explain below, we agree with the JPML that there are strong arguments for both sides of this procedural dispute, and we defer to the JPML's exercise of its discretion in this matter. In terms of the standards for issuing writs of mandamus, we find that the petitioner has failed to show that it has a clear and indisputable right to issuance of the writ, so its petition is denied."
"Delivery drivers for petitioner FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. filed numerous class actions against FedEx alleging that the company improperly classified them as independent contractors rather than employees. Although the cases in federal courts alleged violations of many different state laws, they presented many common questions of fact. Under the authority of 28 U.S.C. § 1407, the JPML consolidated more than 70 of the cases in MDL No. 1700 and transferred those cases to the Northern District of Indiana in 2005 for consolidated pretrial proceedings under the supervision of Judge Robert L. Miller, Jr., a veteran district judge with long experience both as a transferee judge managing MDL cases and as a member of the JPML itself. Judge Miller supervised the cases through several years of discovery and motions practice.
No. 11-243 Decided November 17, 2011 (&th Cir CT Appeals),
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