Department of Labor Comment
Proposed Rulemaking on Independent Contractor Status under the Fair Labor Standards Act
Regulatory Information Number (RIN) 1235-AA34
Oct. 26. 2020, Matthew Szollosi
As Executive Director for the Affiliated Construction Trades Ohio Foundation (“ACT Ohio”) and on behalf of the nearly 100,000 Ohio Building and Construction Tradespeople we represent, I urge the Department of Labor not to codify the misclassification of construction employees as independent contractors in an addition to Title 29 of the Federal Code of Regulations. Doing so will empower more unscrupulous contractors to undermine the safety and economic contributions of the U.S. construction industry.
The DOL’s radical reinterpretation of independent contractor status under the FLSA is the wrong way to do business for America’s construction industry. It is wrong for construction employees and their families in Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia, who are working to survive the COVID pandemic. It is wrong for our state and for our communities, which depend on the tax revenues, workers compensation, and unemployment fund contributions of legitimate Building & Construction Trades contractors and their employees.
In the midst of the pandemic, the U.S. Department of Labor must not empower questionable contractors to expand the under-the-table economy that threatens Ohio’s construction employees and punishes responsible construction employers and job creators. For years, irresponsible contractors have shifted their tax liability to blue-collar workers in order to cut their labor costs – this is their only chance to compete in a market where their sub-par construction services would otherwise fail.
There is no legal, ethical, or economic justification for depriving Ohio’s construction workers of the fair pay, overtime, health insurance, and retirement benefits which they have rightfully earned through their strenuous skilled labor. A time of record unemployment is not the time to destabilize unemployment funds, nor is it the time to cut the reliable tax base, which properly classified construction employees provide to their municipalities and states.
Now more than ever, the Department of Labor must implement policies that strengthen responsible contractors’ ability to hire Ohio workers at living wages and benefits. The effect of responsible construction employer policies will be to:
- a) keep misclassified, underpaid construction workers from being forced to rely on safety net programs like Medicaid or cash assistance to make ends meet, and
- b) to ensure that all construction contractors meet their basic employer obligations in local, state, and federal taxes and the unemployment and workers compensation funds that keep our construction industry functioning, safe, and profitable.
If this new independent contractor rule is approved, hundreds of thousands of Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia construction employees will be stripped of fair pay, overtime, and benefits. On behalf of these skilled building tradespeople, I urge the Department of Labor to maintain their rightful status as employees under the FLSA.
Matthew Szollosi
Executive Director, Affiliated Construction Trades Ohio Foundation
Department of Labor Comment
Proposed Rulemaking on Independent Contractor Status under the Fair Labor Standards Act
Regulatory Information Number (RIN) 1235-AA34
Oct. 26. 2020, Mike Knisley
As Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council, and on behalf of the nearly 100,000 Ohio construction tradespeople we represent, I urge the Department of Labor not to sanction the misclassification of construction employees as independent contractors in an addition to Title 29 of the Federal Code of Regulations.
This rule change will allow sub-par construction contractors to do further damage to the legitimate construction industry. It will incentivize the hiring of undocumented workers, undermine local and state wage standards earned by skilled Ohio tradespeople, and drive more blue-collar American workers to rely on safety net programs like Medicaid and family assistance.
Simply put, the DOL’s proposal to codify the misclassification of employees as independent contractors is radically out of step with the letter and spirit of the FLSA – and grossly irresponsible as our working Ohio Building Trades families and their communities flounder during the rampant, unmitigated COVID pandemic.
If this proposal is approved, it will undermine democratically enacted local and state protections for skilled blue-collar construction workers. Misclassification as independent contractors robs skilled construction employees of the living wages they rightfully earn for their safe, quality construction work. Misclassification leaves these workers without healthcare or unemployment benefits when they are injured on the job – and without a proper retirement after a lifetime of sacrificing their bodies and physical health to their strenuous professions.
During a pandemic and unemployment crisis, now is not the time to sacrifice more Ohio construction employees to dependence on public assistance, simply to allow profiteering construction contractors to submit irresponsibly low bids. Now is the time for the Department of Labor to strengthen and protect the wages and benefits of construction employees who pay their fair share of taxes – who earn every dollar they make through their skilled and dangerous work.
On behalf of Ohio’s skilled construction workers and their families, I urge the Labor Department not to do further harm to blue-collar Ohioans by taking away their employee status.
Mike Knisley
Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council
