Employers Cringe at Amendments to Underground Economy Bill

By Greg Jones, Western Bureau ChiefEmployers say labor-backed amendments to a bill that would eliminate exclusive remedy protections for a business that fails to list all employees covered by its workers’ compensation policy as an effort to crack down on the underground economy is burdensome and punitive.Assemblyman Ed Chau, D-Alhambra, amended Assembly Bill 1138 on March 21 to add language that would require employers to post on their premises a list of all covered employees and update the information quarterly, or each time a covered employee is removed or added. The bill originally pr...