Legislation to deter worker misclassification is receiving a through review in the North Carolina legislature, the Carolinas Associated General Contractors (CAGC) reports in its legislative news brief.
“In the next two weeks, a small group of legislators will consider putting more changes to HB 482, a bill aimed at fighting illegal labor practices,” CAGC reported on July 8.
“House Judiciary Committee leaders last week charged five members with examining three elements of the employee fair classification bill. Several members of the committee were particularly concerned with a provision added to the bill that specified owner-operators of transportation companies (Fed-Ex) should be considered independent contractors.
“Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat, also said he wanted to look at restoring a provision that allowed state investigators to issue “stop work” orders against companies operating without proper workers’ compensation insurance and he wanted the bill to include protection for workers who blow the whistle on employers’ illegal labor practices,” CAGC reported.
“CAGC has worked diligently with House and Senate bill sponsors on this legislation to incorporate provisions that would not unnecessarily put general contractors at risk of losing their license or being debarred from future public work for technical errors or actions that were not willful. Because the current version of the bill includes these provisions, CAGC along with other stakeholders who crafted the original bill, oppose any further changes that would upset the balance and compromise already contained in the bill.”