The proposed legislation redefines many independent contractors as employees.
A bill introduced in the New Jersey state legislature could effectively end independent contract work for many residents in the state if passed.
In early November, New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney introduced bill S4204 in early November, which could end independent contract work in the state if passed.
The proposed legislation redefines many independent contractors as employees, altering the employment code to “individuals who perform services for remuneration shall be deemed employees, not independent contractors.”
Exceptions to the proposed change will only be made if individuals could prove that the services rendered were not supervised nor instructed, were outside of the normal scope of business, and that the service was something established as being customarily performed by the individual.
NFIB is opposed to the proposed change.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, NFIB’s New Jersey State Director Laurie Ehlbeck said: “If a contractor has his or her own employees, their own equipment, they actively marketed their services, and the business hiring them has no control over their work, they could still be considered an employee if it so happens that the work they are doing is within the scope of what that hiring business normally does. That would leave a lot of people out of work and without income.”
