Change to Win Challenges Labor Dept. to Act on Worker Misclassification

Too Many Workers Being Cheated Out of the American Dream

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 24, 2007

CONTACT: Greg Denier or Chris Ortman
(202) 721-0660
greg.denier@changetowin.org
chris.ortman@changetowin.org

WASHINGTON, DC - Following is a statement from Greg Tarpinian, Executive Director, on behalf of the Leadership Council of Change to Win, on today's hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives on employer misclassification of workers as independent contractors: 

"A good job -- one that provides work that is respected, wages that can support a family, health care, and retirement security -- is the cornerstone of the American Dream. But far too many workers are cheated out of that Dream because their employers misclassify them as independent contractors rather than as employees.

"Unless and until they prove they are employees rather than independent contractors, misclassified workers have no rights to minimum wage and overtime, or to employer-provided health insurance, retirement benefits, or paid leave. They have no rights to important protections like unemployment insurance after a lay-off. They also have no legal right to a safe workplace, to equal employment opportunity, to job-protected family and medical leave, and no rights to organize and collectively bargain.

"When companies misclassify employees as independent contractors, they cheat them out of important benefits and legal protections, they cheat responsible employers through unfair competition, and they cheat the government out of billions in revenues, forcing law-abiding employers and taxpayers to pay more than their fair share. Change to Win calls on the Labor Department to take aggressive action to detect misclassification and require employers to correct these injustices."

"Change to Win commends House Subcommittee Chairs Rob Andrews and Lynn Woolsey for holding today's hearing and demanding real answers to their questions about the U.S. Department of Labor's record on investigating worker misclassification."

Back in May, these subcommittees sent a letter to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao asking basic questions about the extent to which the agency has uncovered misclassification in its investigations of wage and hour violations, health and safety violations, and other violations of worker protections, and what it has done about it. But instead of providing forthright answers, the Labor Dept. tried to sidestep the questions by claiming that 'it is not possible' to gather that information, a statement belied by its own collection of misclassification data in unemployment insurance audits.