RALEIGH, N.C. -- A published report says North Carolina state agencies do a poor job communicating with each other to identify employers possibly breaking the law by failing to have workers' compensation insurance or not paying withholding taxes for employees.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Tuesday agencies involved in worker safety and employer taxes rarely share information that could be used to investigate possible insurance and tax scofflaws better.

Leaders of the agencies -- the Department of Labor, the Industrial Commission and Department of Revenue among them -- say they don't have time to help each other because of limited resources and the specific missions of their offices.

The newspaper said a crosschecking of databases of workers' comp policies and Labor Department inspections uncovered 300 businesses whose policies had expired.