You may recall that we sponsored a forum last Fall to look at the growth of the unregulated economy. At the forum, the New York State Commissioner of Labor, Patricia Smith talked about her department’s efforts to enforce basic wage and hour laws. Well, Smith–one of Eliot Spitzer’s really great appointments–has not just been talking as we learn today:

A new crackdown on employers in New York State that are paying workers off the books has snared dozens of companies and uncovered millions of dollars in violations, state officials said on Monday.

In 15 enforcement sweeps, state investigators found $19 million in wages that were not reported to the state and $3 million in underpayments to workers, the state’s labor commissioner, M. Patricia Smith, said at a news conference. Investigators also uncovered nearly $1 million in taxes that had not been paid to the state’s unemployment insurance fund.

“We think this not only is going well in terms of collecting money, but it’s having a real deterrent impact,” Ms. Smith said about the sweeps.

The sweeps grew out of a task force that Gov. Eliot Spitzer set up in September to crack down on companies that illegally classify employees as independent contractors, often to avoid paying unemployment insurance taxes and workers’ compensation premiums.

“I created this task force as a part of my economic security agenda to reduce longstanding abuses of workers and to level the playing field for law-abiding businesses,” Mr. Spitzer said in a statement on Monday.

    It doesn’t take a lot to get the attention of the miscreants:

Ms. Smith noted that soon after being visited by the task force, one employer began paying unemployment insurance taxes for 205 employees it previously had not reported.

    Personally, I think these folks should end up in jail, not just be forced to pay back monies owed on back taxes, back wages and unpaid workers’ compensation premiums–but, hell, I’ll take this as a start.

    Good for Smith.