This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Employers cheated Utah construction workers out of nearly $2 million during the past year and a half, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division.
Between October of 2013 and March 2015, the division found more than $1.8 million dollars in back wages for more than 2,700 workers in the Utah construction industry, according to a Monday news release from the Labor Department.
Employers misclassified their employees status as independent contractors to avoid paying overtime, important benefits and payroll taxes, according to the news release, which said the practices were violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
"When workers are misclassified as independent contractors — a practice common in the construction industry — they lose out on the wages and benefits to which they are legally entitled including workers' compensation if they are hurt on the job and unemployment insurance if they are laid off, " said David Weil, administrator for the Wage and Hour Division. "Also, misclassification results in less payroll tax revenue for federal and state governments and an unfair playing field as law abiding competitors are underbid for work. Businesses that play by the rules and classify their workers as employees see important benefits such as reduced turnover and training costs, and improved productivity."
The labor department said there have been some other recent investigations involving questionable employers' practices in Utah, including that on April 23, 2015, a nearly five-year federal investigation of illegal business practices by 16 defendants in Utah and Arizona yielded $700,000 in back wages, damages, penalties and other guarantees for more than 1,000 construction industry workers in the Southwest.
Companies named employees as owners to bypass overtime and other tax-related issues, according to a news release.
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