As is happening in Texas and other states, lawmakers in North Carolina are now finally taking a look at what they should do to crack down on the epidemic levels of worker misclassification in the construction industry. Time Warner Cable News in Raleigh reports: It comes on the heels of an investigative series in the News and Observer and its affiliated newspapers, highlighting the illegal practice of classifying employees as independent contractors in order to avoid paying taxes and other benefits.
The federal government is getting more serious all the time about cracking down on businesses that pretend their employees are subcontractors when, by law, they should be paid as employees. That was part of the message of labor law attorney Daniel Ramirez as he spoke to about a hundred representatives of various businesses at a labor law conference in the Dallas area hosted byK&S Insurance Agency.Ramirez, who also spoke in great detail about workplace issues like sexual harassment and the realities of the Affordable Care Act, said that his main concern for employers about worker misclassification is that companies can quickly find themselves in court facing class-action lawsuits.“This is one of the hottest litigated issues,” Ramirez said, in large part because some workers will find out they should have been paid as employees and therefore should have received overtime pay.
October 22, 2014
Following concerns raised here on Construction Citizen by contractors in Austin, the Austin Community College Board of Trustees has decided to create a task force to hammer out new rules for construction under a proposed $386 million bond.The ACC board was planning to move ahead with the new rules when Associated General Contractors Austin President Phil Thoden wrote on Construction Citizen that it appeared the proposal was being rammed through:"...the resolution appears to have been crafted without input from a broad range of the local construction community. This is especially puzzling when you consider that the owner in this case has the word “community” as part its official name.
October 16, 2014
It’s been said that the military’s purpose is two-fold: “To kill people and to break things.” But in the battle against an invisible enemy, in this case the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, United States military forces are tasked with building infrastructure that will hopefully help struggling nations contain the deadly infectious disease. Specifically, they are arriving in Monrovia, Liberia as part of a plan to build tent hospitals and train local nurses to treat a reportedly widening Ebola epidemic in Africa.The Wall Street Journal reports the troops are getting a slow start:“On Saturday, a handful of troops from the Navy's 133rd Mobile Construction Battalion led a bulldozer through thigh-high grass outside Liberia's main airport, bottles of hand sanitizer dangling from their belt loops.
October 13, 2014
Texas is an economic engine unlike any other, but there are things that could put the brakes on our dynamic growth. Congested highways and the unreasonably long commutes that go along with them have the potential to slow commerce in a way that promises to be detrimental to the Texas economic experience. With over 1,000 people moving here each day, we’re told to expect as many as 18 million additional vehicles on our roads by the year 2040. That’s 45 million cars and trucks.When Governor Rick Perry first took over the central office at the Texas Capitol in 2000, the state had zero debt for roads. One of Perry's enduring legacies – for better or worse – is that he embraced government debt to finance construction of highways. Now the credit card is maxed out, and voters across the ideological spectrum are opposed to more toll roads.
October 01, 2014
There is growing anger across the nation about the about the cancer of worker misclassification in the construction industry. Why are more and more political leaders, thought leaders, and others calling it a “scam” and saying that something needs to be done quickly to deal with these cheaters? Well, as Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously intoned: “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” That’s the way most people know the quote. The entire quote is this: “Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.”
September 25, 2014
The work we do at Construction Citizen to advance a socially responsible, sustainable and value added construction industry isn't just being noticed by those in the industry itself. Others, including professional services firms, have started to take note and some even are taking action.I recently sat down with Tony Fierro, President of K & S Insurance Agency in Rockwall, Texas, to talk about why he's made the decision to “join the movement,” as he put it. Until Fierro made his commitment, all of our great sponsors had been contractors. Since K & S Insurance is the first non-contractor to join, Fierro felt it was important to explain why he made the decision and encourage others to do the same.
September 16, 2014
President Obama over the weekend backed away from his own timeline on executive action for immigration policy, something that's been a top concern for construction and other industries that find it difficult to find a sufficient number of authorized workers.In the 3½-minute video below from NBC’s Meet the Press, Obama blamed the delay on the shifting politics of the issue brought on by the crisis along the Texas-Mexico border. That’s after NBC’s Chuck Todd pressed the president on whether he is dragging his feet because Democratic senators in Republican states fear a backlash at the polls in November:“‘The truth of the matter is that the politics did shift midsummer because of that problem,’ Obama said. ‘I want to spend some time, even as we're getting all our ducks in a row for the executive action, I also want to make sure that the public understands why we're doing this, why it's the right thing for the American people, why it's the right thing for the American economy.’”
September 09, 2014
The cheaters in construction who all too often get away with avoiding payroll taxes and responsibility for their workers’ injuries are coming under even more scrutiny. We’ve pointed out the problem for years at Construction Citizen because it is a blight on this industry and a roadblock to improving it for generations to come.The practice by unscrupulous contractors runs counter to our mission of advancing a socially responsible, sustainable and value-added construction industry. Misclassification in construction – and other industries as well – leads to the degradation of the employer-employee relationship, turns workers into disposable commodities, cheats taxpayers like you and me out of billions of dollars, and makes it nearly impossible for ethical companies to compete.
September 03, 2014
Because of an absence of federal action on the problem of rampant worker misclassification in construction, we continue to track the progress of states across the nation that are trying to deal with what's been called “a cancer” in the industry. Lawmakers in Minnesota have gotten particularly aggressive, pushing a registry for subcontractors that can be easily checked and then revoking licenses of contractors who don't comply.Via Jonathan Barnes at the Engineering News-Record:“After some success with the new effort, the Minnesota legislature recently extended the state's Contractor Registration Pilot Program for another year, saving it from expiring on June 30 as it was set to do, and extending its life until at least June 30, 2015.
August 28, 2014