To make a very long story somewhat short: I work as a theatre technician in PA. Up until January I worked for a performing arts school in the area on a 'P/T' W2 contract (29.75 hrs/wk, 52 weeks a year) as a carpenter/lighting tech. (If relevant, I quit because I got a better paying gig closer to where I live, after being snubbed for a F/T position with the school that I was certainly qualified for)
The company offered “Additional Contracts” at flat rates ($650-$1000) on 1099 independent contractor agreements, to their P/T employees, to run the shows. These required anyone who opted to take them to work additional hours in the evenings/weekends on top of scheduled daytime hours. As it was a separate contract, we were not eligible to OT pay for combined hours. These contracts were posed as beneficial by management, as it allowed us to make additional money on top of our normal work.
I politely confronted my Production Manager (Supervisor), and HR Rep a few months before I left, and informed them that the contract rates were low when broken down to hourly pay, in relevance to working for the local union or even non union gig work. On top of that, I pointed out that we should be eligible for OT since we would be working for the same employer for more than 40 hrs/wk. I was told by the PM that the rate was “actually very good”, and (more importantly) that the company would never approve OT for us, so the contract rate was the best we could expect.
Now here's my question: Is this something that it reportable to DOL as potential wage theft? It is objectively not 1099 contract work, seeing as it is not significantly different than the work done on the P/T employment contract, and they specify the hours of work (start/end times). I have found some documentation on defining terms, but have not seen anything specific on how report this/what the consequences may be for the company. Any advice is helpful! It won't help me anymore, but I care for the wellbeing of my former coworkers and friends, and want to help them make what they deserve.