State Representative Joey Andrews and fellow members of the House Labor Caucus have unveiled a package of legislation intended to strengthen workers’ compensation rules in Michigan.

Andrews joined colleagues to announce the package on Thursday. His legislation would make it harder for employers to incorrectly classify some employees as contractors to get out of offering benefits.

“That makes sure that we go back to treating independent contractors like independent contractors and workers who are full-time employees like full-time employees,” Andrews said. “Right now, there’s a lot of employers who abuse the system so they don’t have to pay workman’s comp benefits or unemployment benefits to their employees by treating them as if they were independent contractors. And we’re trying to fix that and make sure that workers are correctly classified so they get the benefits that are due to them based on the work they’re doing.”

Andrews said under his bill, Michigan would implement the “ABC Test” used in states like California to better determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor.

Other bills in the package would seek to strengthen protections for workers with pre-existing conditions, or when someone’s denied a job due to a previous injury. Another would raise benefits to 90% of the state’s average weekly wage while allowing for cost-of-living increases.

Andrews said given the current state of the economy, Michigan workers need all the help they can get.