Pittsburgh Labor and Employment Attorney Greg Miller Weighs in on Employee Misclassification Prevention Act

Gregory A. Miller, a shareholder in the Labor and Employment Section at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney's Pittsburgh office and a member of the Labor Section's Executive Committee, was quoted in a May 6, 2010, article posted on the website, Human Resource Executive Online. The article, titled "Clamping Down on Misclassification," discussed a proposed federal law (which is expected to pass) that aims to address the misclassification of employees.

As explained in the article, "Introduced last month into the U.S. House and Senate, the Employee Misclassification Prevention Act would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to require employers to notify all new employees and non-employees who do work for them of their employee-classification status. … The law would also impose penalties on employers of between $1,100 and $5,000 per employee for failure to follow the record-keeping requirements or misclassifying workers. … Most experts predict this bill, however, will be approved by Congress and signed into law."

The article went on to discuss how unions praise the legislation; however, some business groups are concerned about the legislation's ramifications.

Miller pointed out that the penalties are especially troubling. "Were employers to get it wrong," he said, "this statute would impose more Draconian penalties [than those that previously existed] on them."