A Sustainable Workforce Starts With You

Worker Misclassification

Payroll fraud (also called worker misclassification and workplace fraud) is the illegal practice of designating an employee as a "1099 worker" or an independent contractor. Unscrupulous employers do this to avoid paying payroll taxes, unemployment tax, or workers’ compensation insurance and are therefore able to submit lower bids for projects, undercutting responsible contractors. Several states have already passed laws to penalize those who cheat workers and taxing agencies in this way.

While lawmakers in Texas this year took a pass on a broad crackdown on companies that misclassify their workers, other states are ramping up their efforts. In Connecticut, for...
Construction in Texas may be "cheap," but that's only if you consider the final price of the project. In most cases, the true costs are borne by workers, taxpayers, and society at...
After months of forward momentum, a proposed crackdown on misclassification of construction workers championed by both business and labor may have hit a serious snag.The bill by...
On a commercial renovation job in Panama City, Florida, a Hispanic drywall construction worker was electrocuted when he came in contact with electrical wires projecting from a...
The bill still has a long way to go, but the proposed crackdown on the intentional misclassification of construction workers in Texas passed a milestone last week when it was...
Major Texas homebuilders came out against the state's moves toward cracking down on worker misclassification during a legislative hearing on Wednesday. The Leading Builders of...
In the second installment of his excellent series on the Texas construction industry, NPR Correspondent Wade Goodwyn highlights the difference between contractors who play by the...
On today's installment of NPR's Morning Edition, correspondent Wade Goodwyn put the microscope on the Texas construction industry and what he found was disturbing. Click here to...
This article by Representative Armando Walle, D-Houston originally appeared in the Houston Chronicle on April 1, 2013.  Reprinted with permission.In recent years,...