Tell Governor Justice:

Protect WV Workers

VETO SB 272

The misclassification of workers in the country and especially in West Virginia has created a predatory system within the construction industry that victimizes workers and steals from the social income many rely on. Senate Bill 272 would amend the West Virginia Employment Law Worker Classification Act and change an independent contractor’s understood definition. This amendment would make it easier for employers to misclassify their employees as independent contractors helping to embolden bad actors in the construction industry to continue taking advantage of workers and West Virginia.

The West Virginia Legislature is very familiar with how construction industry fraud has affected the state. The Legislature’s audit of Workforce West Virginia announced in December 2020 found that misclassification of workers has to lead to a loss of between $820,000 to $1 million in personal income tax from 2014 -2018. The legislative auditors explained misclassification in the state of West Virginia as “rampant”, and the United States Department of Labor gave West Virginia an “F” for the efforts in detecting worker misclassification. These results should provide our leaders in West Virginia to create a higher level of enforcement and stricter guidelines for employers when it comes to the misclassification of workers. Voting for Senate Bill 272 would not help in these efforts.

Governor Justice must VETO SB 272 to protect workers from wage theft and misclassification.