Kennedy on plan to crack down on companies committing payroll fraud

Thursday, August 29, 2019

LANSING — House and Senate Democrats unveiled a plan today to crack down on companies committing payroll fraud, increasing penalties for bad actors while strengthening oversight to protect businesses playing by the rules. Unscrupulous companies stole an estimated $429 million in wages and overtime pay from hardworking Michiganders between 2013 and 2015, impacting more than 2.8 million people. In addition to the impact on individual workers, payroll fraud costs Michigan taxpayers $107 million a year in tax revenue. In response, state Rep. Sheryl Kennedy (D-Davison), whose House Bill 4873 would provide additional whistleblower protections for public employees, issued the following statement:

“Michigan’s tireless public employees do thankless work each day in order to keep our state moving forward. It’s up to us to provide them the necessary protection they need when they blow the whistle on any wrongdoing they see or experience in the workplace. We should all aim to hold our elected officials to the highest standard, and I believe these increased protections for public employees will continue to encourage greater transparency and accountability.”