CA Strikes Gold

California just may be sitting on a newfound gold mine.  State audits and investigations of employers who use independent contractors are up 54% in the last 3 years and the dollars are adding up. Dollars from the states mining efforts in 2007 was $163.6 million although up 30.4% from fiscal 2005 still not the mother load. The dollars hitting the empty coiffeurs although fairly sizeable may not be quite enough to make employers sit up and take notice.

Misclassified workers, uninsured workers, unpaid tax dollars and state and federal deficits are reasons enough for auditing agencies to take a second or third look at the worker population in your organization. Presidential hopeful Barack Obama's campaign gains momentum as he picks up support from large pro-worker organizations, including the teamsters union. This candidate may impact the current reform in employee classification issues. If so, the nation can expect to see the number of audits jump up significantly. The sound produced by those cash registers as the dollars come in will be heard round the country.