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'Tis the Season...to Know Your Rights
Fall is in the air means for public construction workers may mean that the busy summer building season is coming to an end. For many employees, the end of a job is the time to file for unemployment. But what if you work for an employer who classifies you as an independent contractor? Can you still qualify for unemployment benefits?
Prove it
Massachusetts law says that any employee with “proof of work” is eligible to collect unemployment benefits from the state. This means that even if your employer is on the wrong side of the law—by failing to pay unemployment insurance or misclassifying his or her employees—the state won’t hold it against you. As long as you’re able to present proof that you’ve been getting paid, you’ll qualify for benefits.
Classify this
That’s the good news. The bad news is that misclassification—the practice of falsely calling an employee an independent contractor—is a scam that often ends up costing both workers and the state a bundle. It’s also increasingly common. According to a study by Harvard University, more than 1 out of 10 construction workers in Massachusetts are misclassified by their employers. That means that come tax time, as many as 15,000 construction workers will receive a 1099 instead of a W-2.
How to tell
According to the Attorney General’s office, almost no public construction workers fit the classification of an independent contractor. If someone tells you when, where and how to work and you’re paid by the hour, week or month, chances are you’re an employee. More good news: the AG’s office is increasingly going after contractors who misclassify their workers. Case in point: All-State Painting, a Norwood contractor was ordered to pay $15,000 to three employees after falsely claiming that they were independent contractors.
Save your stubs
The painters who worked for All-State were fortunate; they’d kept excellent records, which helped the AG determine that they were being cheated by their employer. And that’s the motto of this issue of the Wage Watch: the key to enforcing your rights on the job lies in good record keeping. Whether it’s “proof of work” for an unemployment claim or disputing a misclassification by showing when, where and for how much you worked, getting what you’re owed always comes down to backing it up. Anyone for a holiday yule log book?
To order your free log book from the Foundation for Fair Contracting, call 1-800-224-FAIR or send an email to info@ffcm.org
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