Legislative Advisory: Today at the State House
Package of Legislation Seeking to Address the Misclassification of Independent Contractors Released from the Senate Labor Committee
It was a busy day for the Senate Labor Committee today, as they debated for over five hours a package of seven bills seeking to reform the broken system by which certain employers intentionally misclassify their employees as independent contractors.
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO supported all the bills and thanks Chairman Madden (D-4) and Senators Lagana (D-38) and Greenstein (D-14) for voting “yes” on these bills. Senator Bucco (R-25) voted “no” or abstained on the bills with the exception of S-4227 and S-4228, which he supported. The same bills have already been released from the Assembly Labor Committee. Specifically, the bills are:
S-4204 (Sweeney): The bill seeks to apply the “ABC test” to almost all industries in the state to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors. New Jersey loses millions of dollars every year in state income tax, unemployment insurance contributions and other revenues due to the “misclassification” of workers.
S-4229 (Madden): This bill permits the Commissioner of Labor to issue a stop-work order against any employer who is in violation of any state wage, benefit and tax laws, including the misclassification of workers.
S-4228 (Lagana / Madden): This bill permits the Division of Taxation to share with the Department of Labor tax statements, reports, audit files, returns, or reports of any investigation so they can better coordinate enforcement of misclassification and other laws.
S-4230 (Madden): Establishes monetary penalties for the misclassification of employees.
S-4225 (Greenstein / Madden): This bill establishes joint liability by making any client employer and any labor contractor providing workers to the client employer subject to joint and several liability and shared civil legal responsibility for any violations of state employer tax laws, including provisions concerning the misclassification of workers.
S-4226 (Madden): Permits the public posting or listing of persons that violate wage, benefit and tax laws.
S-4227 Lagana / Greenstein): Requires employers to post notice to employees regarding the misclassification of workers.
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO thanks the affiliates that testified in support of these pro-worker bills as well as the sponsors for their leadership on this important issue.