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HOME — FACTS — TABLES — VIDEOS — INFOGRAPHICS — AGENCIES — RESEARCH <br />Sources Listed by Release Year <br />Wage and Hour Division (WHD). (2022). "U.S. Department of Labor Announces Proposed Rule on <br />Classifying Employees, Independent Contractors; Seeks to Return to Longstanding Interpretation." U.S. <br />Department of Labor. <br />Key Finding: "The proposed rule would provide guidance on classifying workers and seeks to combat employee <br />misclassification. Misclassification is a serious issue that denies workers' rights and protections under federal labor <br />standards, promotes wage theft, allows certain employers to gain an unfair advantage over law-abiding businesses, and <br />hurts the economy at -large." <br />Chen, Lori. (2022). "Illinois Governor Signs Bills Expanding Contractors' Liability for Unpaid Wages of <br />Subcontractors' Workers." Ogletree Deakins. <br />Key Finding: Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed House Bill 5412 and House Bill 4600 into law, which amend the Illinois <br />Wage Payment and Collection Act to make certain primary contractors liable for any debt owed by a subcontractor (at any <br />tier). HB 4600, the trailer bill, carves out two categories of contractors exempt from liability for such unpaid wages and <br />benefits: (1) contractors who are signatories of collective bargaining agreements on projects where work is being <br />performed and (2) primary contractors altering or repairing an existing single-family dwelling or single residential unit. <br />Additionally, HB 4600 also limits the scope of the amendment to the WPCA, applying it only to contractors doing work in <br />Illinois that exceeds $20,000 on private (i.e., nongovernment) projects, other than an owner acting as a primary contractor <br />on the owner's primary residence. <br />Phillips, Zachary. (2021). "New York State Legislature Passes Construction Wage Theft Bill." Construction <br />Dive. <br />Key Finding: The New York State Senate and State Assembly passed legislation Wednesday that shifts liability to general <br />contractors for wage theft cases on private construction projects. It made New York the 6th state, in addition to <br />Washington, D.C., to adopt this type of protective wage theft for construction workers. <br />Shapiro, Josh. ( ). "Hawbaker Sentenced, Will Pay Workers More than $20 Million in Stolen Wages." <br />Pennsylvania Attorney General. <br />Key Finding: Attorney General Josh Shapiro sentenced Glenn 0. Hawbaker, Inc. for theft relating to violations of the <br />Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act and the federal Davis -Bacon Act. The plea includes paying $20,696,453 in stolen wages <br />to 1,267 Pennsylvania workers. Hawbaker is one of the largest contractors to complete projects on behalf of the <br />Commonwealth, receiving an estimated $1.7 billion in contracts between 2003 and 2018. The restitution is for the largest <br />prevailing wage criminal case in U.S. history. Hawbaker pleaded to four felony counts of stealing wages from its workers. <br />Rhinehart, Lynn; Celine McNicholas; Margaret Poydock; and lhna Mangndayao. (2021). Misclassification, <br />the ABC Test, and Employee Status: The California Experience and Its Relevance to Current Policy Debates. <br />Kev Finding: Federal and state policymakers should adopt the ABC test in their labor and employment laws to ensure <br />workers are not misclassified, and are covered by important workplace rights and protections. <br />Department of Workforce Development (DWD). (2021). Payroll Fraud and Worker Misclassification <br />Report: 2021. State of Wisconsin. <br />Kev Finding: This is a report from the Task Force on Payroll Fraud and Worker Misclassification. In 2020, Wisconsin <br />Unemployment Insurance (UI) Division auditors conducted nearly 1,300 audits and identified 8,900 misclassified workers, <br />generating $2.34 million in UI taxes and interest. The task force recommends creating a new Insurance Fraud Bureau of <br />Investigations and developing a statutory requirement of upstream liability, among other recommendations. <br />Gerstein, Terri. ( ). How District Attorneys and State Attorneys General Are Fighting Workplace <br />Abuses. Economic Policy Institute. <br />Kev Finding: District attorneys (DAs) and state attorneys general (AGs) have been bringing criminal prosecutions against <br />law -breaking employers. This development is particularly important in light of limits in worker protection laws, <br />underfunding of labor enforcement agencies, and employers' increasing use of forced arbitration clauses. <br />17 <br />