Florida Joins U.S. DOL’s Worker Misclassification Initiative

On January 13, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that Florida joined the ranks of states that have entered into formal agreements with the DOL to share information about worker misclassification.  Under the terms of a memorandum of understanding, the DOL and the Florida Department of Revenue agreed to share information about workers who may be improperly classified as independent contractors instead of employees.  The announcement can be found here.

Workers who are misclassified as contractors may be denied benefits, minimum wage, and overtime pay that they might receive if properly classified as employees.  Likewise, the federal government and state taxing authorities miss out on payroll and other taxes that they would receive if the workers were properly classified. 

By sharing information, the DOL and the states participating in the initiative hope to reduce misclassification and increase compliance with employment, wage and hour, and tax laws.  The DOL reports that similar memoranda of understanding have been entered into with the states of Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New York, Utah and Washington.