The Social and Economic Costs of Employee Misclassification in the Maine Construction Industry

Authors

Françoise Carré, University of Massachusetts BostonFollow
Randall Wilson, University of Massachusetts BostonFollow

Document Type

Research Report

Publication Date

4-25-2005

Abstract

With this study, a cross disciplinary team of the Center for Construction Policy Research has taken a first and significant step in documenting employee misclassification in the Maine construction industry. This report documents the dimensions of misclassification and its implications for tax collection and worker compensation insurance.

Misclassification occurs when employers treat workers who would otherwise be waged or salaried employees as independent contractors (self employed). Or as one report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor put it, misclassification occurs “when workers (who should be) getting W-2 forms for income tax filing instead receive 1099-Miscellaneous Income forms."

Comments

A report of the Construction Policy Research Center, Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School and Harvard School of Public Health.

Elaine Bernard, Ph.D. and Robert Herrick, Sc.D. Principal Investigators

Recommended Citation

Carré, Françoise and Wilson, Randall, "The Social and Economic Costs of Employee Misclassification in the Maine Construction Industry" (2005). Center for Social Policy Publications. 42.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/csp_pubs/42