Georgia: Continuing education requirements for Georgia contractors have taken effect. In 2012, an applicant for renewal of his residential license must have completed 3 hours of acceptable continuing education for a Residential Basic license and 6 hours of continuing education for a Residential Light Commercial license.

Massachusetts: In 2011, the Commonwealth’s Joint Enforcement Task Force on the Underground Economy and Employee Misclassification recovered $10.9 million from companies that had failed to pay required money as a result of misclassified workers. In 2010, the task force collected $6.5 million. In 2009, its first year, it collected $1.4 million! Does anyone notice a trend?

Mississippi: The state has fined 5 affiliated companies a total of $945,000 for violating the state’s do not call law 189 times over a 4 year period.

New Jersey: After inadvertently eliminating its inside sales exemption from its overtime law, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development has restored the exemption. Under the inside salesperson exemption, a person is exempt from overtime if their primary duty consists of sales activity, they receive a regular weekly rate of pay of at least $400, and at least 50% of their compensation is from commissions. However, this exemption still differs from the exemptions under federal law, so care must be taken if you rely on this exemption.