We told you back in September about a task force set up by New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to investigate "misclassification" -- the scam where employers weasel out of paying for their workers' health care and benefits by claiming them as "independent contractors", even though they work full time for their company -- in New York State.
Well, yesterday we saw the first results of that task force's work -- a crackdown on misclassifying companies that found millions of dollars in owed payments that New York employers had held back:
In 15 enforcement sweeps, state investigators found $19 million in wages that were not reported to the state and $3 million in underpayments to workers, the state’s labor commissioner, M. Patricia Smith, said at a news conference. Investigators also uncovered nearly $1 million in taxes that had not been paid to the state’s unemployment insurance fund...
In their sweeps, which investigated 117 companies, state officials found that 2,078 employees had been misclassified as independent contractors. The task force also found 646 workers who were owed minimum and overtime wages totaling about $3 million.
Commissioner Smith noted at the announcement that the corporate crooks they caught were just the tip of the iceberg:
“I wouldn’t doubt that 10 percent of the state’s workers are either misclassified as independent contractors or work off the books,” Ms. Smith said.
The task force also published a report on their findings to date -- unfortunately it doesn't seem to be posted on any of the various state government sites yet, but once I track down a copy I'll link it in from this post.
UPDATE (Feb. 14): Here's the full report, in PDF format, for your downloading pleasure.
