Robbery Lobby: Home Builders Successfully Strip DOL of $10M Intended to Fight Misclassification

[Omaha Steve]

http://wepartypatriots.com/wp/2015/07/08/robbery-lobby-home-builders-successfully-strip-dol-of-10m-intended-to-fight-misclassification/

In a troubling decision, the House and Senate Labor, Health, and Human Services subcommittees have stripped $10 million in funding from the 2016 federal budget, money that is vital to the Department of Labor’s effort to fighting employee misclassification. The money would have provided grants to state governments attempting to crack down on the cancerous business practice.

The cash slash was spearheaded by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), who foolishly celebrated the victory on their website following the decision. As we wrote in June, the NAHB was joined by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the American Bakers Association (ABA).

Last year, the Department of Labor (DOL) granted $10.2 million to 19 states to bolster or start programs that would enforce worker misclassification laws. A total of four states (Maryland, New Jersey, Texas and Utah) were granted $2 million as a “high performance bonus” to identify firms that either misclassify employees or fail to report payroll wages — or pay taxes on them.

While many experts, such as researchers at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, consider misclassification to be at “epidemic levels,” the NAHB successfully argued to the Republican majority that the grants were causing state governments to “find misclassification where none exists.” Their words:

FULL story at link.

About the Author: Chaz Bolte
Chaz Bolte is a native of Pittsburgh, PA where he attended Slippery Rock University. He currently contributes to WePartyPatriots, Addicting Info, Secret Party Room, and Football Nation. You can follow him on Twitter @ChazBolte