New York has a new law seeking to curtail in the building and construction industry the practice of misclassifying employees as independent contractors (ICs). On August 27, 2010, Governor Paterson signed into law the New York Construction Industry Fair Play Act. The law, which goes into effect 60 days after enactment, only covers businesses in the construction industry.
The legislation resulted from findings by both the legislative and executive branches of government in New York that the practice of misclassifying employees as ICs and paying workers “off the books” was 50% more prevalent in the construction industry than in all other industries in New York.
A comprehensive review of the legislative background and an analysis of the law can be found in a published article by the publisher of this blog post in the New York Law Journal.