Florida is the latest state to join the U.S. Department of Labor’s Misclassification Initiative developed to reduce and prevent the practice of misclassification of employees. Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New York, Utah and Washington are other states that have joined their agencies to protect the rights of employees by better coordinating compliance.
Under the agreement signed by officials in the Florida Department of Revenue and U.S. Department of Labor, both agencies will work together by sharing information and coordinating law enforcement. The goal is to stop employees that are incorrectly labeled from being denied benefits including minimum wage pay, unemployment insurance, and overtime compensation.
To obtain more information on classification guidelines, make sure to visit the Department of Labor’s misclassification website http://www.dol.gov/whd/workers/misclassification/.