GAME ON, an acronym for Government Against Misclassified Employees Operational Network, has had some significant successes recently. The Louisiana statewide, multi-agency task force was organized to fight the problem of misclassified workers.

In July of 2018, unannounced site inspections were conducted to determine whether companies were deliberately misclassifying their workers as independent contractors to add to their profit margin by failing to deduct withholdings or pay unemployment taxes, failing to pay overtime, and failing to procure workers’ compensation coverage. Unemployment insurance tax auditors and workers’ compensation authorities from LWC inspected construction sites in the New Orleans area based on credible tips received by task force members.

Since July 1, 2017, GAME ON has performed 19 audits resulting in the discovery of 1,100 misclassified workers, $18.5 million in unreported wages, $5.4 million in taxable wages, and $133,000.00 additional unemployment insurance taxes.