Publish Date: 2015-11-03
CLEVELAND, OH – Alongside workers who have been denied wages, benefits, and protections because they have been misclassified, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez outlined efforts that would protect workers and businesses that play by the rules. In Cleveland, Brown announced plans to introduce new legislation that would close a loophole in the tax code that allows employers to openly treat full-time workers as independent contractors in order to avoid providing them with earned safeguards and benefits – like payroll tax withholding, overtime, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation.
“We should call this what it is: fraud,” Brown said. “We see it in industries from trucking and construction, to service sectors like landscaping and home health care. If employees are classified as independent contractors, then an employer doesn’t have to pay them overtime or contribute to their Social Security or Medicare benefits. When companies cheat tax law and misclassify employees, workers lose, honest businesses lose, and taxpayers lose. This is unfair to workers, unfair to businesses that play by the rules, and it must stop.”