TODAY IN THE STATE HOUSE
Hours of Testimony In Support of Recently Enacted Regulations on the
ABC Test for Independent Contractor Status Determination Presented to the Senate Labor Committee
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO thanks all the union representatives and worker advocates that testified in today’s Senate Labor Committee to stress the importance of the recently enacted regulations from the Department of Labor concerning the ABC test for determining classification status as either an employee or an independent contractor.
“These regulations are an important step in explaining to business and workers how to be properly classified and in compliance with the law said New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech. “The intentional misclassification of workers by unscrupulous business negatively impacts workers in all sectors of our economy. From app-based transportation companies to health care to construction to public sector to trucking and entertainment production, among others, workers are being cheated out of earned benefits and wages and that must end,” he concluded.
Independent contractor misclassification exploits workers because they lose access to numerous pro-worker benefits, including unemployment insurance, overtime, minimum wage, paid sick days, paid family leave, worker compensation, temporary disability, overtime, access to employer provided health insurance and pensions, among others. And because independent contractors are outside the National Labor Relations Act, these workers have their right to join a union stripped away from them.
Today the New Jersey labor movement stood shoulder-to-shoulder in solidarity to put a stop to the exploitation of workers in our state. Over a dozen unions from all sectors of our labor movement and our Central Labor Councils took the time to testify, explaining the significance of the new regulations. We thank the New Jersey Department of Labor and the Sherrill administration for taking a strong stand for working people on this vital issue.
To find out more about the ABC test regulation, CLICK HERE to see the Department of Labor’s fact sheet.