Assemblywoman Vicky Flynn (R-13) recently introduced a concurrent resolution in the lower house that, if enacted, would lead to overturning the Murphy administration’s proposed independent contractor rules as inconsistent with legislative intent.
The Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOL) is currently attempting to modify the factors that may be considered when determining whether an individual is an independent contractor or an employee. During public hearings, DOL received more than 9,500 comments on the proposed changes, and 99% were in opposition.
ACR-177, introduced by Flyn on Dec. 8, is identical to SCR-138, introduced by Senator Declan O’Scanlon, Jr. (R-13) last month. Concurrent resolutions, if passed by both houses of the Legislature, do not require the governor’s signature.
The resolutions would give DOL 30 days to modify or withdraw the proposed rules. If it doesn’t, the Legislature may, by passing another concurrent resolution, exercise its authority under state Constitution to invalidate the proposed rules in whole or part.
Under New Jersey’s state unemployment compensation law, businesses must use a three-prong “ABC test,” to determine a gig worker versus an employee. NJDOL has claimed that its proposal codifies those regulations and will reduce worker misclassification.
But NJBIA, other business groups, legislators and independent contractors have shown that the DOL’s proposed changes instead transform the rules and would make it much more difficult to be an independent contractor in New Jersey. The changes would create burdens for businesses and affect the livelihoods of thousands of people, such as independent truckers, drivers, freelance writers, artists, financial advisers, and more.
NJBIA President & CEO Michele Siekerka has said the DOL proposal “effectively flips the ABC test into an ‘employment presumption’ standard, which is inconsistent with New Jersey’s judicial precedents.”
“We need to ensure the flexibility and the economy of independent contractors and stop looking to add costs and burdens to New Jersey businesses,” Siekerka said on Sept. 8.
