THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 2021 Page 15 DIDOMENICO | FROM PAGE 3 prevalent of these practices is payroll fraud via misclassifying employees as independent contractors or paying workers “off -the-books” in cash-only arrangements. As a result, some employers avoid paying taxes and into critical safety nets for workers – like unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, Social Security and Medicare benefi ts –putting an unfair burden on Massachusetts taxpayers and the Commonwealth when employees have a legitimate right to use these programs. Wage theft also hurts legitimate businesses by putting law-abiding companies at a competitive disadvantage when they lose contracts to companies that charge less for their work by cheating their workers out of their pay. To increase accountability in labor contracting and subcontracting, the bill holds lead contractors accountable for the wage theft violations of their subcontractors if there is a signifi cant connection to their business activities or operations, and the bill enhances the enforcement power of the Attorney General’s Offi ce by allowing it to bring wage theft cases directly to civil court. The Attorney General would also gain the ability to issue a stop work order in response to a wage theft violation. To protect employees affected by a stop work order, the bill requires that employees be paid for the period that the stop work order is in eff ect or the fi rst 10 days the employee was scheduled to work had the stop order not been issued. The Massachusetts Senate has twice passed DiDomenico’s wage theft bill during previous legislative sessions with nearly unanimous and bipartisan support. On March 29, 2021, the Legislature referred S.1179 to its Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, where it awaits a report. FOR AD FOR ADVERTISING WITH RESULTS, ITH RESULTS CALL THE ADVOCATE NEWSPAPERS SPAPERS AT 617-387-2200 OR INFO@ AD OC TENE T 617 387 2200 OR INFO@ ADVOCATENEWS.NET .NET ALL THE AD OC TE NE TISING
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