Michigan to target 1099 cheats?

Compared to other lines of work, construction companies are notorious for mis-labeling workers as independent contractors. Doing so allows the contractor to get out of paying state and federal employer taxes, as well as unemployment and workers' compensation levies.

The employers are sometimes called 1099 cheats - workers get 1099 forms instead of W-2 forms, and have to pay their own taxes, when the employer is rightfully responsible.

To help put an end to this practice, Michigan House Bill 6239 would make it a misdemeanor for contractors to coerce their employees to falsely declare that they are independent contractors in an attempt to avoid state or federal requirements.

The state House has approved the bill and passed it along to the Senate, where it awaits action in the Committee on Development, International Trade and Regulatory Affairs. Passage of the bill will depend upon whether lawmakers have time to take the matter up in the short session before the end of the year.

The bill would subject a contractor who knowingly coerces or assists a worker to falsely declare himself to be an independent contractor to up to 93 days in jail and a $10,000 fine.

Paying an employee with cash in order to avoid taxes is already against the law.

Construction unions support the measure. So does the state Associated General Contractors, whose executive vice president, Bart Carrigan, called it "a fairness issue that I don't think anyone in their right mind would object to."

Well guess what. The Associated Builders and Contractors Michigan Chapter oppose the measure, claiming it's another way for unions to harass nonunion contractors.

Local 80's Bradfield named to code panel

Sheet Metal Workers Local 80 Business Agent Bill Bradfield was appointed to the Michigan Board of Mechanical Rules which is under the Department of Consumer and Industry Services, Bureau of Construction Codes.

The appointment to the uncompensated 16-member board, which carries a two-year term, was made official Oct. 1, 2002. Gov. John Engler made the appointment with the consent of the full state Senate. State law mandates that one representative from organized labor sit on the panel. Bradfield replaces Pipe Fitters Local 636 Business Manager Jim Lapham.

The Board of Mechanical Rules governs the licensing of applicants who wish to become mechanical contractors, promulgates rules that govern the installation of mechanical equipment, processes appeals of candidates who wish to be licensed and suspend licenses of rule-breakers, and makes recommendations to the state Construction Code Commission.

A Local 80 member since 1966, Bradfield is also a Pension Fund Trustee for the local. "With only one labor representative on the Board of Mechanical Rules, I'm ready to work diligently to protect the interests of organized labor and assist in enforcing the mechanical rules that are in place, and improving them whenever possible," Bradfield said.