What do the Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service,
and Congress have in common? Fair wages—the DOL ensures
that workers receive the proper wages, while the IRS and Congress
do their best to send those dollars right back to Washington. Sound
like the set-up for a bad joke? The punch line is that each of
these federal entities has announced its intention to focus on
employers' misclassification of employees as independent
contractors in the upcoming year. Because of this increased focus
on worker misclassification, small employers must be extra-vigilant
in 2011 to make sure their workers are properly classified.
The Department of Labor: "We Can Help"
Workers classified as independent contractors are not entitled
to Fair Labor Standards Act protections regarding minimum wage and
overtime or to other federal employment law benefits, so small
employees that are wrongly classified as independent contractors do
not receive legal protections to which they are
