All Entries Tagged With: "employment"

Rhode Island Recognized for Running One of Nation’s Top-Performing Unemployment Insurance Tax Operations

CRANSTON, RI — Rhode Island has been recognized for running one of the nation’s best Unemployment Insurance (UI) tax operations. The Division of Taxation and Department of Labor and Training (DLT) received a State Performance Excellence Award as the top-performing small state in this function at a conference of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) in Albuquerque, NM.

DLT Assistant Director of Income Support Robert Langlais, who heads the state UI program, and Chief Revenue Agent Philip D’Ambra, head of the Division of Taxation’s Employer Tax section, accepted the NASWA award last week. This is the sixth straight year that Rhode Island has won in the small state category. DLT and the Employer Tax section have long collaborated on running this key area of the state UI system.

“For Rhode Island to be recognized by its peers for running high-quality UI tax operations is gratifying and I congratulate the Division of Taxation and DLT for their efforts,” Governor Gina Mr. Raimondo said. “My administration is committed to continuous improvement in rethinking the way we work and becoming more customer-friendly to make it easier for Rhode Islanders to do business with government.”

Acting Department of Revenue Director David M. Sullivan said, “This award recognizes the high standards of the Division of Taxation’s Employer Tax section and of the Department of Labor and Training. It also recognizes the hard work that the Division of Taxation and the Department of Labor and Training do, day in and day out, as a team.” Sullivan added, “Their work reflects well on the Department of Revenue’s Division of Taxation, the Department of Labor and Training, and on the State of Rhode Island. We are all very proud of their accomplishments.”

“Along with the US Department of Labor, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies sets the standard for best practices in our field. For this reason, I’m especially proud of our UI tax team’s accomplishment,” said DLT Director Scott Jensen. “Our goal is to continue to innovate to deliver excellent customer service to both the workers who rely on UI and the employers who pay for UI. Doing this will help Rhode Island preserve a skilled workforce that’s ready to meet the challenges of our competitive economy.”

DLT Continues Crackdown on Workplace Fraud

CRANSTON, RI — RI Department of Labor and Training Director Scott Jensen today announced another company is facing penalties for underpaying wages on a public project, fraudulently filling out weekly payroll records and wrongly misclassifying employees as independent contractors.

The DLT reached a decision against Mancieri Flooring Co. LLC on September 24. DLT ordered the company to pay $331,000 in civil penalties, interest and back wages and debarred it from doing work on any prevailing wage jobs in Rhode Island for three years. (See attached document.) On Sept. 1, Governor Gina M. Raimondo announced DLT’s $730,000 settlement agreement with Pawtucket-based Cardoso Construction LLC.

“Ensuring that workers get a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work is one of the ways we will help everyone make it in Rhode Island,” Governor Raimondo said. “Breaking the law not only hurts workers, it also hurts all of the Rhode Island companies that follow the rules, pay proper wages and help grow our economy.”

“Governor Raimondo has made workplace fraud enforcement one of our top priorities,” said Jensen. “We have strengthened our team that works on misclassification violations and continue to increase the effectiveness of our new Workplace Fraud Unit to bring more employers into compliance and protect workers.”

After an investigation by DLT’s Prevailing Wage Unit and a June 29 administrative hearing for which Kevin Mancieri failed to appear, DLT found that Mancieri Flooring (663 Warren Ave., East Providence, 02914):

·         Failed to pay the prevailing wage rate on flooring removal and installation work it was subcontracted to do at the University of Rhode Island from 2012 to 2014;

·         Failed to pay 17 employees the proper wage and overtime rates, paying an hourly wage of $12.50 to $25 — much lower than the applicable prevailing wage rate and/or the various hourly rates that Mancieri Flooring falsely reported on its certified payroll records;

·         Misclassified its 17 workers as independent contractors;

·         Continued a pattern of deceit in falsifying payroll records spotted earlier by the US Department of Labor in a separate federal prevailing wage project; and

·         Supplied false 1099 tax forms to the state for employees to try to hide that it was not paying the proper prevailing wages.

The company must pay $70,000 in back wages, a $210,000 civil penalty (three times the amount of wages due) and a $51,000 misclassification penalty ($3,000 times 17 employees).

Employment Law & HR Practices Conference Set for November 5th in Springfield, MA

AGAWAM, MA – EANE announced today its Annual Employment Law& HR Practices Update conference to be held on Thursday, November 5, 2015 at the Springfield Marriott in Springfield, MA. The full-day conference — which  draws more than 100 attendees from Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island –will address the ever-changing employment law landscape in today’s workplace.

“We cover the vital developments in state and federal employment law and best-practices with an array of experts.” said Meredith Wise, President of the Employers Association of the NorthEast. “Participants gain practical guidance on day-to-day employment issues and strategies for big-picture planning.”

Featured keynote speakers will be Mike Hess and Rich Trombetta. Mike is a legally blind IT professional who has bucked mainstream trends and has been employed as a technology professional since 1996. He will present the “Art of Blinders,” demonstrating that most obstacles in business can be overcome using the sightless principles of communication.

Rich Trombetta, of The Innovation Company, will present “The New Diversity – A Resource To Be More Effective As A Business,” explaining how biases can impact decisions, team work and the overall work environment. Rich uses improvisational comedy, high-energy fun and thought-provoking exercises.

The fee is $285 per person with discounts for three or more. Register at http://eane.org/employment-law-hr-conference/ or via phone at 877-662-6444.   The program will offer 5.5 credits by the HR Certification Institute and SHRM.

At the Car Wash…

What happens when your company grows (and grows and grows!) and you want to keep that family feel?  Well, in our case we’re trying to think outside the box as much as possible and are continuing to come up with creative ways to make sure our employees know how much they mean to us at Rob Levine & Associates.  We are a team – one that works really hard and that we’re trying to keep rewarded for all that hard work.  We’ve had a busy Summer full of team outings like a recent BBQ at McCoy Stadium.  We surprised them with pizza parties and an ice cream truck recently then this week we scheduled a company, SHINE, to come to our office and clean our employee’s cars!

At the car wash
Workin’ at the car wash, yeah
Come on and sing it with me
(Listen to this oldie but goody here Car wash)