DOL investigation says painters should be paid as team players
Outsourcing has become more popular in the past decade, thanks to advances in technology that make it easier for remote professionals to contribute to a central project. This has been advantageous for employers because they can get the same work done without having to hire staff members and assume payroll costs for their time and attendance, benefits and taxes.
While this practice is novel to many fields, such as graphic design or accounting, it's nothing new for the construction industry. Companies have always hired additional help to get big jobs done, calling in electricians, plumbers and day laborers to complete tasks for a day or two. Because of the nature of these temporary relationships, outsourced workers are often considered independent contractors.
If this classification is legitimate, supervisors don't have to pay those individuals hourly wages or overtime. Presumably, they can negotiate a better rate for the jobs they perform. However, this is not always the case and misclassifications are a common issue in the construction industry.
In fact, the Department of Labor recently recovered $226,000 in back wages for 67 employees of Southern Painting Contractors for work performed in Georgia school districts. Investigators found that the individuals were more like employees than independent professionals and should be paid as such.
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