We’ve dedicated a lot of space on this blog to the importance of correctly classifying contract candidates as either W-2 Employees or 1099 Independent Contractors and warned of the government’s crackdown on the misclassification of workers. Well, the Federal Employment Law Insider’s recent interview with Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis makes it clear that all of this talk about increased enforcement is not just hype.
“The WHD (Wage and Hour Division) will increase its number of investigations, continue to train investigators in the detection of workers who have been misclassified, and focus them on industries in which misclassification is most prevalent,” Solis said in the interview.
It’s a rather lengthy interview, much of which has nothing to do with the employee misclassification issue, but the main take-away point that you may want to share with your clients is that the Department of Labor is requesting an additional $12 million and 90 new investigators in the Fiscal Year 2011 budget to support their increased enforcement efforts.
