U.S. Senate Panel Takes First Look at Misclassification Crackdown

By Michael Whiteley, Eastern Bureau ChiefNew York Labor Commissioner Colleen C. Gardner told a U.S. Senate Committee Thursday that one in every 10 workers in her state are misclassified as independent contractors or paid "off-the-books."The former New York AFL-CIO organizer called for federal legislation to back up the work of a joint task force launched by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer in September 2007."A major reason for greater federal enforcement is that there are employers with national operations who use the same illegal practices in many of the states in which they operate," Gardner told t...