New Wage and Hours Rules for Businesses Contemplated

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Written by Duluth, MN business attorney Patrick Spott   
Businesses need to decide whether their workers are classified as employees or independent contractors.  The Obama administration has made no secret of its intention to expand application of the federal wage and hour standards to workers previously classified by businesses as independent contractors.  To that end, there is a bill pending in Congress known as the Payroll Fraud Prevention Act.  The bill would require all employers to provide written notice to all employees and "non-employees" (independent contractors) of their status and refer the workers to the U.S. Department of Labor website for information about their rights.  Even more significantly the bill would impose fines of up to $5,000 for misclassifications and step up enforcement.  If the bill became law it would add one more level of risk to businesses who chose to classify their workers as independent contractors.