ViaSource Solutions Inc., formerly INW Contact LLC, a call-center provider to businesses that market products on television infomercials was found to be misclassifying employees as independent contractors.  An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found ViaSource Solutions misclassified hundreds of call-center agents as independent contractors rather than employees, and subsequently denied them minimum wage and overtime for hours they worked, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The firm also failed to pay employees for time spent in training, creating additional violations of the FLSA.   

ViaSource has reclassified all call-center agents as employees and will pay $101,491 in back wages for minimum-wage violations to 435 employees plus $48,893 for unpaid overtime due to 165 employees.  Misclassifying employees as independent contractors or some other nonemployee status often denies them minimum wage, overtime, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance and other workplace protections. Employers often intentionally misclassify workers to reduce labor costs and avoid employment taxes.