Marek: the practice of misclassifying workers Employers deceive us all

Marek: the practice of misclassifying workers Employers deceive us all

Marek: the practice of misclassifying workers Employers deceive us all

When I graduated from Texas A & M University in 1969, after my active duty in the US Marine Corps Reserves, I joined the local carpenters union as a mechanical drywall. Wages and benefits are excellent and it is a quality job, the middle class. The non-union traders enjoy the same type of lifestyle. We all received a good pay per hour, overtime, workers' compensation insurance coverage and have tax deducted and paid work. There is a bond between the company and workers. We work hard to keep our jobs secure. If the company we do well, we will be given to. And we.
I like the construction industry, and I speak from experience when I say it must be saved from itself. Since 1938, our family business has helped build the monuments of this city and this country. More importantly, our company - like many others during the past 75 years - has helped tens of thousands of hardworking Americans enjoyed a respectable blue-collar, middle-class standard of living. But, now we are threatened middle class like never before.

Fast forward to today and my, how things have changed.
Many construction companies are now looking for ways to avoid the employees altogether. They do not want the bond between the company and workers. The truth is they want as few strings as possible because it has employees in the book meant to be out of money to pay per hour, overtime, benefits, workers comp, payroll taxes, in accordance with the labor laws and the possibility of being audited by the federal government to verify the immigration status workers.

So what do they do?
As taxpayers, we all suffer while the work and the women took the brunt of it.

In our industry, as in others, many companies "misclassify" their employees, which means they pretend their workers "independent subcontractor" when they meet the legal definition of an employee. This practice enables companies to get permission on all employer obligations, which largely protect workers. No employees, no overtime pay and minimum to comply with the law. No benefits such as health insurance, paid vacation and holidays. There are no workers' compensation insurance or jurisdiction of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration to protect workers. Taxes on labor are not arrested and sent to our federal government. The Texas unemployment trust fund is reduced as a direct result. And now that the Affordable Care Act is a state law, the employer mandate that gives companies more incentive to dismantle workers into the underground economy.

It is already illegal to misclassify employees, but the company continues to do so due to the enforcement of government and self-policing by the industry sorely missing.
A bipartisan House committee report Texas recently said, "An employer misclassifying compromise the free market through unfair competition and Announces lawlessness." The panel noted that the Texas Workforce Commission found more than 60,000 workers have been misclassification in 2013, making $ 8.6 million in unpaid taxes. I believe those numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. Keep in mind that the Labor Commission can only identify some of what actually happened because the institution of limited resources.
No doubt the federal government, including lawmakers from both parties, has failed us so far on immigration reform and other fundamental problems facing our shrinking middle class. But there is time to turn the corner. Government action, however, is not enough.

You might think that when immigration audits identify them later deported illegal workers. That's not true at all. The employer is only required to terminate them. Looks like they are rarely deported in such situations. So, many end up working for unscrupulous employers who call them independent contractors know the workers are not likely to take legal action.
Contractors who obey the law can not compete with those using independent-contractor business model. Those who deceive their taxes this way can underbid ethical contracting by about 35 percent. While cheaters get a contract, middle-class jobs that fall by the wayside.
The elephant in the room is that many of the workers who do not have the same legal status. Most started working under the traditional employer-employee relationship. But as immigration enforcement action, which comes as an attack work under President Bush and now auditing employee-eligibility verification form (I-9s) under President Obama, removed them from the rolls legitimate businessmen, they migrate to the independent-contractor models.
Marek is president and CEO of the Marek Family Company, specialized subcontractor based in Houston.
Coming Monday: What are our elected leaders should do, and what the private sector solutions take root here, in Houston.