The War on Independent Contractors
Very sophisticated adjudicatory authorities cannot even agree on what an 'employee' is. But we have adopted a legal scheme that subjects a business owner to being labeled a fraudster if she guesses wrong.
August 17, 2022 at 12:00 PM
7 minute read
Employment LawIt has been a rough couple of years in New Jersey for companies wishing or needing to hire independent contractors instead of employees. In January of 2020, Governor Murphy signed a package of bills that significantly increased the penalties for mis-designating workers as contractors and provided the Department of Labor and Workforce Development ("the Department") with new enforcement powers to pursue alleged violators. Six months later, the governor signed additional anti-contractor legislation, this time, among other significant things, making it a violation of the New Jersey Insurance Fraud Prevention Act to fail to properly classify employees for the "purpose of evading the full payment of insurance benefits." In other words, to avoid making payments to the unemployment fund.
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