Kimberly Glassman, director of the Foundation for Fair Contracting of Connecticut, which monitors public works projects to ensure compliance with state laws, said that worker misclassification — for example, classifying a worker as an independent contractor instead of as a salaried employee who would earn benefits — along with lack of workers’ compensation and not paying fringe benefits are ways that employers try to increase their profits. “They are very stealth at this. They have companies and lawyers and insurance companies that are showing them how to circumvent these laws. Some of these loopholes are legal, some of them aren’t, but they are very astute at it,” said Glassman, who said that they are monitoring 60 to 70 construction projects at a given time. While her organization can’t conduct audits, they do a lot of their investigations by combing through documents they receive via Freedom of Information Act requests. In addition to advocating for more wage investigators, she also said that protecting and expanding standards for prevailing wages, licensing, apprenticeships and the bidding process is a focus of the organization at the legislative level. “By and large, we’re talking about low-wage workers or middle-class workers who are just trying to get by and take care of themselves and their families,” said Glassman.
Wage theft complaint backlog grows, but Dept. of Labor lacks staff