{"id":2265761,"date":"2024-06-12T09:44:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T13:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/worker-misclassification-hearing-focuses-on-gig-economy\/"},"modified":"2024-06-12T09:46:52","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T13:46:52","slug":"worker-misclassification-hearing-focuses-on-gig-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/worker-misclassification-hearing-focuses-on-gig-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearing on worker misclassification centers on gig economy issues"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fworker-misclassification-hearing-focuses-on-gig-economy%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2265761&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dei-disaster-petition-circulating-within-secret-service-community-warns-of-potential-insider-threats\/\" title=\"DEI Crisis: Secret Service Petition Raises Concerns About 'Insider Threats\">article discusses concerns raised<\/a> by legislators about the misclassification of gig workers, which undermines both workers&#8217; rights\u200c and the state\u2019s financial resources. Misclassification refers to \u200ctreating employees as independent contractors, depriving the state of nearly\u2063 $100 million every year from its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/florida-should-be-able-to-lower-rent-lease-sales-tax-for-businesses-soon\/\" title=\"Florida may soon reduce rent and lease sales tax for businesses\">unemployment compensation trust fund<\/a>. While Republican legislators have described misclassification as a major economic crime, only \u200bsurpassed by the drug trade, Democrats have expressed worries about\u200d the gig economy and unionized labor being \u200cundermined by non-union firms. During a House\u2064 Labor Committee hearing, Representative David Delloso emphasized the need for a \u200ddecisive shift towards supporting employees to bring about \u200bchange, especially highlighted by the challenges brought\u200d on by the COVID-19 pandemic.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2014 Misclassification that\u2019s shorting workers and the state\u2019s safety net has some legislators looking askance at gig work.<\/p>\n<p>Legislators of both parties have raised concerns, though on different problems.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans have called misclassification \u201c<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/pennsylvania\/article_3c21c9a6-cd84-11ed-a521-6bdf92680cd9.html\">the greatest criminal activity<\/a><\/strong> throughout the state besides the drug trade\u201d in regards to its economic impact. Paying an employee as if they were an independent contractor means the state\u2019s unemployment compensation trust fund loses almost $100 million annually.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats have focused more on the gig economy and unionized labor getting undercut by non-union firms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUntil we make a decided shift in favor of employees, things are not going to change,\u201d Rep. David Delloso, D-Ridley Park, said during a House Labor Committee hearing on Tuesday. \u201cWith covid and the influx of the gig economy, it\u2019s gotten worse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He pointed to situations where transportation companies shift from bidding for contracts with full-time employees, but getting beat out by companies who treat their drivers as independent contractors, lowering their costs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrankly, the state has missed the ball on millions upon millions \u2014 if not billions of dollars \u2014 in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nevada-democrats-to-introduce-bill-that-would-allow-tech-companies-to-create-governments-report\/\" title=\"Nevada Democrats To Introduce Bill That Would \u2018Allow Tech Companies To Create Governments\u2019: Report\">general fund revenue<\/a> that should be returned to the workforce by way of progress,\u201d Delloso said.<\/p>\n<p>Legislators heard from gig workers who spoke of their time as independent contractors being monitored and controlled by their employer, and problems with the state\u2019s unemployment system from providing them timely payments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMisclassification is a form of wage theft,\u201d said Julia Simon-Mishel, supervising attorney of the unemployment compensation unit at Philadelphia Legal Assistance.<\/p>\n<p>Simon-Mishel said a common form of misclassification was businesses who treat independent contractors like any other employee, with the problem across industries from home health agencies to driving companies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis partnership is actually a facade; these individuals really remain at the whim of companies for their assignments and pay structure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Christopher Hallock, deputy secretary of safety and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-unions-bellwether-victory-in-michigan-could-expand-to-other-states\/\" title=\"How the Bellwether Victory of the Union in Michigan May Spread To Some States\">labor management relations<\/a> in the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, called misclassification an issue of fairness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMisclassification is one of the biggest and pervasive problems in Pennsylvania,\u201d he said. \u201cIt robs workers of wages they\u2019ve earned and robs them of protections.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hallock blamed noncompliance on a lack of education, arguing that with more staff focused on misclassification, the department could make things better.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese violations are going up every single year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>More investigators could be more vigorous in their follow-up of employers that violate the law, he said, and check more job sites.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Misclassification is depriving workers and impacting the state&#8217;s safety net, causing bipartisan legislative concern. While Republicans label it as the state&#8217;s second-largest criminal activity after the drug trade due to its economic effects, legislators continue to scrutinize the gig economy&#8217;s role in this issue<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2265762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AP24037853686201-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2265761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AP24037853686201-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2265761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2265761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2265761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2265762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2265761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2265761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2265761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}