Employee Misclassification Prevention Act
Latest action · Nov 18, 2011 Referred to the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedOct 13, 2011
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Employee Misclassification Prevention Act - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to require every person to: (1) keep records of non-employees (contractors) who perform labor or services (except substitute work), including through an entity such as a trust, estate, partnership, association, company, or corporation, for remuneration; and (2) provide certain notice to each new employee and new non-employee, including classification as an employee or non-employee and information concerning their rights under the law.
Makes it unlawful for any person to: (1) discharge or otherwise discriminate against an individual (including an employee) who has opposed any practice, or filed a complaint or instituted any proceeding related to this Act, including with respect to an individual's status as an employee or non-employee; and (2) fail to classify accurately an employee or non-employee.
Doubles the amount of liquidated damages for maximum hours, minimum wage, and notice of classification violations by an employer. Subjects a person who: (1) violates such requirements (including recordkeeping requirements) to a civil penalty of up to $1,100, or (2) repeatedly or willfully violates such requirements to a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for each violation.
Directs the Secretary of Labor to establish a webpage on the Department of Labor website that summarizes the rights of employees under this Act and other appropriate information.
Amends the Social Security Act to require, as a condition for a federal grant for the administration of state unemployment compensation, for the state's unemployment compensation law to include a provision for: (1) auditing programs that identify employers that have not registered under the state law or that are paying unreported compensation where the effect is to exclude employees from unemployment compensation coverage, and (2) establishing administrative penalties for misclassifying employees or paying unreported unemployment compensation to employees.
Requires any office, administration, or division of the Department of Labor to report any misclassification of an employee by a person subject to the FLSA that it discovers to the Department's Wage and Hour Division (WHD). Authorizes the WHD to report such information to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Cosponsors 32
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Oct 13, 2011 to Sep 12, 2012; 2 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-CA | George Miller | Original | Oct 13, 2011 |
| D-NJ | Robert E. Andrews | Original | Oct 13, 2011 |
| D-IA | David Loebsack | Oct 27, 2011 | |
| D-CA | Laura Richardson | Oct 27, 2011 | |
| D-CA | Judy Chu | Nov 4, 2011 | |
| D-CA | Barbara Lee | Nov 16, 2011 | |
| D-MN | Betty McCollum | Nov 16, 2011 | |
| D-IL | Daniel Lipinski | Nov 16, 2011 | |
| D-NJ | Donald M. Payne | Nov 16, 2011 | |
| D-MD | Elijah E. Cummings | Nov 16, 2011 | |
| D-CA | Fortney Pete Stark | Nov 16, 2011 | |
| D-VA | James P. Moran | Nov 16, 2011 | |
| D-IL | Janice D. Schakowsky | Nov 16, 2011 | |
| D-MI | John Conyers, Jr. | Nov 16, 2011 | |
| D-MN | Keith Ellison | Nov 16, 2011 | |
| D-IL | Luis V. Gutierrez | Nov 16, 2011 | |
| D-AZ | Raúl M. Grijalva | Nov 16, 2011 | |
| D-CA | Sam Farr | Nov 16, 2011 | |
| D-OH | Dennis J. Kucinich | Nov 17, 2011 | |
| D-CA | Michael M. Honda | Nov 17, 2011 | |
| D-VA | Robert C. "Bobby" Scott | Nov 17, 2011 | |
| D-NJ | Rush Holt | Nov 17, 2011 | |
| D-NY | Timothy H. Bishop | Nov 17, 2011 | |
| D-DC | Eleanor Holmes Norton | Nov 29, 2011 | |
| D-NY | Maurice D. Hinchey | Nov 29, 2011 | |
| D-CT | Rosa L. DeLauro | Nov 29, 2011 | |
| D-CA | Anna G. Eshoo | Dec 1, 2011 | |
| D-CA | Janice Hahn | Dec 1, 2011 | |
| D-MA | John F. Tierney | Dec 1, 2011 | |
| D-CA | Lucille Roybal-Allard | Dec 1, 2011 | |
| D-MO | Wm. Lacy Clay | Jan 31, 2012 | |
| D-NY | Jerrold Nadler | Sep 12, 2012 |
Committees 2
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Education and Workforce Committee | Referred Oct 13, 2011 |
| Workforce Protections Subcommittee | Referred Nov 18, 2011 | |
| House | Ways and Means Committee | Referred Oct 13, 2011 |
| Work and Welfare Subcommittee | Referred Oct 17, 2011 |
Actions 4
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Nov 18, 2011Referred to the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.
- Oct 17, 2011Referred for a period ending not later than October 17, 2011, (or for a later time if the Chairman so designates) to the Subcommittee on Human Resources, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the subcommittee concerned.
- Oct 13, 2011Introduced in House
- Oct 13, 2011Referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the page H6921.
Printed hearings 1
Hearings whose printed record names this bill, newest first: hearings on it, and wider hearings where it came up.
| Number | Hearing | Committee | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serial No. 112-46 | EXAMINING REGULATORY AND ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS UNDER THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT69 pages | Education and Workforce Committee | Nov 3, 2011 |
Related bills 2
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 770 | Payroll Fraud Prevention Act | Related bill | Apr 8, 2011 |
| HR 3638 | Act for the 99% | Related bill | Feb 9, 2012 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to require persons to keep records of non-employees who perform labor or services for remuneration and to provide a special penalty for persons who misclassify employees as non-employees, and for other purposes.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- Employee Misclassification Prevention Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Labor and Employment.
- Administrative law and regulatory procedures
- Department of Labor
- Employment discrimination and employee rights
- Government information and archives
- Government studies and investigations
- Labor and Employment
- Labor standards
- Performance measurement
- Personnel records
- Tax administration and collection, taxpayers
- Unemployment
- Wages and earnings
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Oct 13, 2011Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
