Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
A new bill in the wake of recommendations from the Joint Task Force on Misclassification of Employees has been introduced by local State Rep. John Galloway.
Advertisements
Galloway, a Democrat from Falls Township introduced H.B. 2810 in Harrisburg this week with fellow Democratic state representatives Joanna McClinton, of Philadelphia and Delaware counties, and Pat Harkins, of Erie County.
Galloway’s office said the bill proposes the following measures:
- Cover all workers to protect them from wage theft.
- Take away the licenses of businesses who steal wages and cheat the system.
- Give the Department of Labor and Industry more resources to chase down the cheaters.
- Make cheaters face heavy fines – the companies who made an honest mistake will get a chance to make things right, but the ones who knowingly steal from workers will get hit the hardest.
- Align with the effort to end corporate price gouging and give the attorney general more power to investigate and charge companies taking advantage of the system.
The Joint Task Force on Misclassification of Employees, which was established under a bill drafted by Galloway and passed in 2020, issued recommendations in a report in 2022 that served as the foundation for the legislation.
Advertisements
“Misclassification of employees occurs when a business wrongfully classifies a worker as an independent contractor even though the nature, type and oversight of their work determines they should be considered an employee under the law. Misclassification can impact industries from home health care to construction to online businesses, like Uber and Lyft drivers,” Galloway’s office explained.
“For years, I’ve been fighting to end corporate price gouging on workers in the commonwealth,” Galloway said. “Too many companies are cooking the books and using dirty tricks to take money out of the hands of workers and put it into stock buybacks, shareholder dividends, and corporate executive perks instead of putting the money back into the communities. When HB 2810 is passed, Pennsylvania’s workers will have the wages and the workplace protections they rightfully deserve, and our working families and communities will be safer and stronger for it.”
Advertisements
Employee misclassification cost Pennsylvania taxpayers between $6.4 million and $124.5 million in lost revenue in 2019, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Nearly 50,000 firms in Pennsylvania misclassified nearly 400,000 workers in 2020 and 2021.
“Employee misclassification is stealing from workers. It is stealing their fair wages, workplace health, safety and unemployment protections, and benefits under Pennsylvania law,” McClinton said. “Workers in the gig economy—everyone from DoorDash drivers to IT workers, construction workers and home healthcare providers—are being shortchanged of their benefits and salaries creating a financially vulnerable workforce. Additionally, misclassification has deprived the commonwealth of funding that could have gone to supporting schools, repairing bridges or providing more tax relief for our seniors.”
The issue has received attention and support from several labor unions.
Advertisements
GOP State Sen. Devlin Robinson, of Allegheny County, has previously introduced S.B. 949 that would set up a portable benefits fund and provide benefits such as income replacement and workplace insurance for certain contractors.
The bill was criticized by labor leaders as proposing treating contractors working for apps like Uber and Lyft as second-class workers with less benefits than most workers.
Advertisements
Report a correction via email | Editorial standards and policies
