From InsuranceNewsNet — Maggie Lee of The Macon Telegraph writes about Georgia House Bill 500 that strengthens Georgia laws. She writes:
After a short hearing Tuesday, a subcommittee of the House Insurance and Labor Committee unanimously passed Mabra’s bipartisan House Bill 500 to start to do something about the problem. The bill would strengthen two existing practices by writing them into law.
First, it directs the state Department of Labor to set up a website where workers can complain of misclassification. It also directs the department to investigate credible allegations.
Second, it lists the differences between an employer and a contractor, in language taken from a Georgia Supreme Court case.
Contractors are workers who are allowed to work for multiple clients at once, can reject work assignments without consequence, set their own schedule and have minimum oversight, among other things. Everyone else is an “employee.”
Having that list in state code will be a “tool” the Department of Labor can use when it investigates complaints, said state Rep. Mark Hamilton, R-Cumming.
The bill now moves to the full Insurance and Labor Committee….”
Read the full story at State seeks cheating employers.
Georgia House Bill No. 500 provides:
“SECTION 1. Chapter 8 of Title 34 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to employment security, is amended in Code Section 34-8-35, relating to the definition of employment applicable to the “Employment Security Law,” by revising subsection (f) as follows: “(f) Services performed by an individual for wages shall be deemed to be employment subject to this chapter unless and until it is shown that:
(1)(A) Such individual has been and will continue to be free from control or direction over the performance of such services, both under the individual’s contract of service and in fact, as demonstrated by evidence timely submitted to the department upon which the department determines by analyzing the totality of the circumstances on a case-by-case basis that the individual:
(i) Is not prohibited from working for other companies or holding other employment contemporaneously;
(ii) Is free to accept or reject work assignments without consequence;
(iii) Is not prescribed minimum hours to work or, in the case of sales, does not have a minimum number of orders to be obtained;
(iv) Has the discretion to set his or her own work schedule;
(v) Receives only minimal instructions and no direct oversight or supervision regarding the services to be performed, such as the location where the services are to be
performed and any requested deadlines;
(vi) When applicable, has no territorial or geographic restrictions; and
(vii) Is not required to perform, behave, or act or, alternatively, is compelled to perform, behave, or act in a manner related to the performance of services for wages which is determined by the Commissioner to demonstrate employment, in accordance with this Code section and such rules and regulations as the Commissioner may prescribe; and
(B) Such individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession, or business; or
(2) Such individual and the services performed for wages are the subject of an SS-8 determination by the Internal Revenue Service, which decided against employee status.”
SECTION 2. Said chapter is further amended by adding a new Code section to read as follows:
“34-8-257.
The department shall create a web based reporting system by which instances of improperly reported employment may be submitted to the department. The department shall investigate each credible report.”…”
