By signing four pro-labor bills into law on Thursday, July 8, Gov. Phil Murphy and his administration continue to work closely and vigorously with labor and legislative leaders to combat unlawful misclassification of workers.
Since the start of his administration, the governor has made it a priority to stop employers from falsely classifying employees as independent contractors, depriving them of fair wages, benefits, job security and workplace safety and health protections. In May 2018, Governor Murphy’s executive order created the Task Force on Employee Misclassification, and that task force’s work has led to legislative successes including these.
The first major package of laws the governor signed, in January 2020, tackled employee misclassification by allowing the issuance of stop-work orders for violators, by establishing penalties for misclassification violations, and by requiring employers to post a notice for their workers explaining employee misclassification.
The second major package, newly signed, builds on the initiative by Governor Murphy and the New Jersey labor movement:
A-5890/S-3920 (Verrelli/Madden, Greenstein) strengthens enforcement of New Jersey employee misclassification laws by granting the Department of Labor and Workforce Development more options to take a violator to court, seek fines, issue stop-work orders at all of a violator’s work sites and order those employers to pay their workers during stop-work periods.
A-5891/S-3921 (Egan, Karabinchak, Space/Madden, Oroho) creates the Office of Strategic Enforcement and Compliance to coordinate enforcement of state wage, benefit and tax laws.
A-5892/S-3922 (Sumter/Madden, Lagana) streamlines how employee misclassification is identified, especially when employees are misclassified so employers can evade paying insurance premiums.
A-1171/S-1260 (Freiman, Karabincak, Verrelli/Singleton, Oroho) requires the creation of a statewide database of certified payroll information for public works projects.
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO thanks and commends the governor for his ongoing efforts on behalf of workers and the right of every employee to be treated fairly, and thanks the sponsors of these bills for advocating for working families in the Garden State.