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HOME - FACTS - TABLES - VIDEOS - INFOGRAPHICS - AGENCIES - RESEARCH <br />Belman, Dale; Aaron Sojourner. (2019). "Economic Analysis: Economic Analysis of Incentives to <br />Fraudulently Misclassify Employees in District of Columbia Construction." In Illegal Worker <br />Misclassification: Payroll Fraud in the District's Construction Industry. Attorney General for the District of <br />Columbia. <br />Kev Finding: Worker misclassification can reduce a contractor's labor expenses by 17% in the Washington, D.C. area. <br />Accompanied with other forms of wage theft, a contractor can easily reduce their labor costs by 27% illegally. <br />Sinroja, Ratna; Sarah Thomason; and Ken Jacobs. (2019). Misclassification in California: A Snapshot of the <br />Janitorial Services, Construction, and Trucking Industries. University of California, Berkeley. <br />Kev Finding: Independent contractors in construction earn 67% of the wages of properly classified workers. Roughly 1/4 of <br />construction workers in California are classified as independent contractors. 40% of workers live in low -wage households. <br />Lawless, Donald. (2019). "Michigan Employers Act Before the Payroll Fraud Enforcement Unit Comes <br />Knocking." The National Law Review, 11(207). <br />Kev Finding: State misclassification laws have caused employers to evaluate their practices for accidental or intentional <br />misclassification and stop the practice before penalties were administered. <br />Slowey, Kim. (2019). "Contractor Faces 20 Years in Prison for Forced Labor." Construction Dive. <br />Kev Finding: An owner of several construction companies was convicted on charges of forced labor. The contractor <br />recruited undocumented workers from Mexico and then refused to pay them. If they complained, he threatened them — <br />and their families —with violence or with deportation. <br />White, Victor. (2019). "Nashville is Being Built on a Pyramid of Payroll Tax Fraud: Opinion." Tennessean. <br />Kev Finding: $2.6 billion in payroll tax fraud is lost annually. 45% of construction workers in the South reported they did <br />not have workers' compensation. Workers who reported wage theft lost a median of $800. <br />Sanchez, Cesar. (2019). "Bay Area Governments Taking Action on Wage Theft." East Bay Express. <br />Kev Finding: The City of Berkeley's "wage transparency" ordinance withholds a certificate of occupancy from projects <br />where workers have alleged wage violations, requires contractors provide workers with detailed pay stubs outlining wage <br />rates and deductions, and publicly posts contact information for state enforcement agencies at each jobsite. <br />Hallett, Nicole. (2018). "The Problem of Wage Theft." Yale Law & Policy Review, 37(1): 93. <br />Kev Finding: A Memorandum of Understanding was in place between the Department of Labor and the Immigration and <br />Customs Enforcement agency that prevented undocumented workers from being deported if their immigration status was <br />uncovered as a result of investigations into labor violations. When these memoranda expire, they may face deportation, <br />which disincentivizes immigrants from reporting labor violations. <br />Gerstein, Terri and Marni von Wilpert. ( ). State Attorneys General Can Play Key Roles in Protecting <br />Workers' Rights. Economic Policy Institute. <br />Kev Finding: State attorneys general have the authority to direct regulatory agencies and build cases against employers in <br />violation of wage and labor laws and to launch labor education programs in industries where misclassification is prevalent. <br />Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). ( ). Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangement News <br />Release. U.S. Department of Labor. <br />Kev Finding: In 2017, 19% of independent contractors worked in the construction industry. See Table 8. <br />Mattera, Philip. (2018). Grand Theft Paycheck: The Large Corporations Shortchanging Their Workers' <br />Wages. Good Jobs First. <br />Kev Finding: Across 4,220 wage theft claims against large employers in 2017, $9 billion in penalties was generated. Women <br />and people of color were disproportionately observed to be victims of wage theft. Misclassification was the second most <br />common offense cited. Government enforcement of labor laws are subject to administrations hostile to workers and <br />sympathetic to employers. Union representation allows more workers to recover stolen wages. <br />54 <br />