A 98-page investigative report challenging New Jersey’s recent policy approaches to independent contractors was released today by Kim Kavin, a Morris County freelance writer and editor widely recognized as one of the nation’s foremost advocates for independent contractors.
The report, “Extremism vs. Entrepreneurism,” which puts the state’s labor policies and proposed rulemaking into national and historical context, comes after a controversial rule proposal by the Murphy administration that would drastically reduce the number of independent contractors in the state.
“This report challenges much of the research and data that is being used to target the business model of independent contracting in New Jersey – and, in some cases, all across the country,” Kavin said.
“Extremism vs. Entrepreneurism” is based largely on the thousands of public comments that New Jersey’s Department of Labor & Workforce Development received, and on source material cited in those comments.
Kavin said the report, with more than 200 footnoted sources, provides “first-of-its-kind documentation about just how extreme the arguments have become in attempting to restrict the business practice of independent contracting.”
Key findings in “Extremism vs. Entrepreneurism” include:
- According to a report co-written by U.S. Congressman Donald Norcross, a 2017 meeting was held in New Jersey to discuss policies that might advance unionization while restricting independent contractors. Participants included: then-New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney, future New Jersey Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo, New Jersey AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech, Teamsters 676 President Howard Wells and other union representatives.
- From 2018 to 2025, the State of New Jersey systematically targeted the business practice of independent contracting at the urging of the New Jersey AFL-CIO, the Teamsters, other unions and a loosely organized national coalition of unionists that involves multimillion-dollar nonprofits such as the Economic Policy Institute, whose chairwoman is head of the national AFL-CIO.
- The underlying claim beneath efforts to restrict independent contracting was that employee misclassification is a widespread problem. Evidence strongly suggests this claim is based largely on mischaracterized data and research; on research with heavy union bias; and on research with methodology so weak that it cannot distinguish between misclassified employees and off-the-books schemes.
- According to leading economists, New Jersey’s stance against independent contractors is already damaging self-employment, W-2 employment and overall employment, with a particularly negative impact on women. These findings about overly restrictive independent-contractor policy having a disproportionate and negative impact on women dovetail with evidence put forward by members of the California Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, who studied that state’s similar policy stance.
- ABC Test regulatory language used by New Jersey to determine employee status is no longer a tool to target purported employee misclassification. It has been weaponized to harm well-intentioned businesses and properly classified independent contractors.
“Extremism vs. Entrepreneurism” also notes that about 1,200 written public comments filed in opposition to the proposed Labor Department rulemaking were initially omitted from the process. The report further includes attorney analysis explaining why the proposed rule is unworkable.
“My sincere hope in issuing this report in February 2026 is the same as the sincere hope that I had when I co-founded a nationwide, nonpartisan, grassroots coalition in 2019: that this type of advocacy will help to stop these deeply misguided attacks on independent contracting as a whole, and help policymakers return to more balanced, reasonable action,” Kavin writes in the report.
The “Extremism vs. Entrepreneurism” report is available for download at Kavin’s website, FreelanceBusting.com, where she publishes news and analysis about independent-contractor policy.
