Senate Republican Leader Anthony M. Bucco and Assembly Republican Leader John DiMaio called on Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Wednesday to delay implementing the administration's new independent contractor rule until July 1, 2027.
The revised ‘ABC test’ that is part of the rule, which determines whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor, is set to take effect on Thursday. NJBIA has led a campaign seeking the postponement of the rule and a growing number of businesses, lawmakers, nonprofits and freelance workers impacted by it have voiced their opposition.
When the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development adopted the rule May 5, the implementation was delayed until Oct. 1 to allow time for legislative changes. Although several bills with carve-outs for professions – financial advisers, golf caddies, youth sports umpires and more – have begun moving through the Legislature, none have been enacted to date.
"In practical terms, the Legislature was given a matter of weeks, not four months, to consider the implications of an economy-wide regulation affecting independent workers and businesses across virtually every sector of New Jersey's economy," Bucco and DiMaio wrote in a letter to the governor. "That was not enough time."
Bucco and DiMaio said the rewrite of the state's ABC test is a policy so consequential it should not be left to unelected regulators at NJDOL.
"An administrative regulation should not substitute for a legislative consensus that was never reached," they wrote.
The leaders also cited the more than 9,500 public comments submitted during the rulemaking, process, with more than 99% of them opposed.
"Whatever one's position on the underlying policy, opposition on that scale should warrant greater scrutiny before an economy-wide regulation becomes operative," they wrote.
The call for a delay is bipartisan. Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-22) asked Sherrill in an August letter to push the date to July 1, 2027, saying the time initially provided was too short for the review needed.
The Republican leaders also pointed to the state's weak economy. New Jersey has lost roughly 21,000 payroll jobs in July alone, according to federal data.
"This is not the time to introduce additional uncertainty that could cause businesses to reduce opportunities for contractors, move work elsewhere, or avoid otherwise legitimate working relationships," Bucco and DiMaio wrote.
Bucco and DiMaio asked the administration to use the nine months to convene a working group of workers, organized labor, independent contractors, small businesses, employers and nonprofits, and to let the Legislature address the issue comprehensively rather than one exemption at a time.
"Tomorrow should not become an arbitrary deadline for getting this right," they wrote. "A nine-month delay is reasonable. It has bipartisan support."
Photo caption: (L-R) Assembly Republican Leader John DiMaio (R-23) and Senate Republican Leader Anthony Bucco (R-25) shown in a file photo provided by the Assembly Republican Office.
