Efforts to Prevent the Misclassification of Independent Contractors Continue

On April 22nd, a bill was introduced in both the United States House and Senate titled the Employee Misclassification Prevention Act (“EMPA” or “Act”). H.R. 5107; S. 3254. The Act would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to introduce measures designed to prevent the misclassification of independent contractors. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) was one of the co-sponsors of the Senate bill. He stated that misclassified workers are “denied vital worker safeguards” and because of the recession, “workers are too often taken advantage of and lose out on the benefits they rightfully earned. . . . [m]eanwhile, employers who do right by their employees are placed at a disadvantage when competitors are cutting corners.” According to the bills’ sponsors, the Employee Misclassification Prevention Act aims to correct these issues.