A worker stands on the crane at a construction site at Broadway and 10th Street in Denver on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. Armed with a roll of stickers and GoPro cameras, Mark Thompson and his crew patrolled the Sports Castle Lofts construction site at Broadway and 10th Street near downtown Denver.
The city of Denver, meanwhile, has passed several ordinances in recent years giving regulators more power to go after bad actors, including up-the-chain liability designed to hold general contractors accountable for the actions of their subcontractors. An attempt to mirror that at the state level this year stalled following a veto by the governor.
Unlike employees, independent contractors aren’t entitled to overtime pay, paid sick leave, health benefits, vacation or workers’ compensation. Companies also don’t need to pay payroll taxes. “Misclassification represents a social problem,” said Matthew Fritz-Mauer, executive director of Denver Labor. “It’s something that hurts all of us.”At a Denver Housing Authority project in Sun Valley last week, José Salacar picked up food during his lunch break. Since April, he’s been paid as a roofer even though he’s a sheet metal worker. That difference means more than $44 less per hour.
Housing insecurity, lack of English fluency and fear about their immigration status also serve to prevent workers from fighting for their rights. Most day laborers included in the study did not know about wage-and-hour laws or how to seek help with wage theft claims. Gradually, the department started to build cases against some major players in the Colorado construction industry.
The goal with these investigations, Moss said, is to make clear misclassifications are not a sustainable business model.Gifford, the construction industry advocacy director, said he supports the state investigating misclassification and wage theft, but added, “I wouldn’t say there’s a problem in the industry.”wage theft enforcement fundincreased penalties that the state can assess on non-compliant companies.
Between new leadership and legislative reforms, “we’ve seen a tremendous reshaping of our wage-theft enforcement scheme,” Seligman said. “But we still have a long, long way to go.” The veto surprised advocates and industry workers, who felt contractors need to be held accountable in order for the industry to change. The governor did say he’s open to another bill and directed the state labor department to work with stakeholders on another solution.