After a lengthy investigation from the U.S. Department of Labor, over a thousand construction workers in Utah and Arizona are going to be paid back wages, benefits and other money that was wrongfully withheld from them as they were misclassified employees.

The department investigated faulty business practices of various corporations and a total of 16 defendants for five years and found that workers were owed $700,000. CSG Workforce Partners, Universal Contracting LLC and Arizona Tract/Arizona CLA had said that their workers were not employees; they had required them to state they “owned” various LLCs so they did not have the employee status and all that comes with it. The companies therefore did not have to pay payroll taxes, overtime, workers’ comp, and various other things they would have had to pay for had they labeled their employees as such. Unfortunately this practice is dangerous for workers because when they do get hurt they don’t have the safety net of comp.

The defendants are going to have to pay back $600,000 in damages to employees and another $100,000 in civil fees and can no longer use LLCs to skirt legal employment practices. They are going to have to comply with the Department of Labor to identify all the workers who were cheated out of their due wages and benefits and make sure they are paid back properly.

If you believe you were mistreated in this scheme you can call the Salt Lake City or Arizona District Office.

Officials say they hope the result of this investigation prompts a change in the construction business so that other businesses do not try to misclassify their workers to gain an unfair advantage and put their workers at risk.

If a company has control over how the worker does their job or what they do, they are an employee and not an independent contractor. If you are unsure or confused about how to label workers you can contact the department or have an employee fill out an SS-8 form with the IRS.