Carpenters Union Estimates Underground Economy Costs Comp $1.74B in Lost Premiums

A United Brotherhood of Carpenters report on misclassification in the construction industry estimates work comp carriers throughout the country have missed out on at least $1.74 billion in premiums as a result of employees being classified as contractors. The report published Monday titled, “How Cheating Hurts Us All: The Costs of Fraud in the Construction Industry,” arose from concerns about a lack of public information and relevant data on tax fraud issues, and seeks to measure the full scope and monetary costs of industry-wide payroll fraud. Payroll fraud was defined to i...