South By North Strategies, Ltd.

The first in a series of articles in The News & Observer explains the problem of employee misclassification in North Carolina and the consequences for law-abiding businesses.

The state’s leaders have imposed requirements on business owners through the years, requiring them to buy workers’ comp insurance, pay taxes and unemployment insurance, and maintain a safe workplace. But state regulators work in the silos of their own agencies, rarely sharing information that would enable investigators to detect businesses determined to cheat.
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As a result, those who play by the rules say they struggle to stay afloat while competitors who break the law profit. And their workers are left vulnerable, facing untreated injuries if they are hurt on the job and financial hardship if they get laid off.