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When people are employees, the deductions that may be made from their wages are limited and many items that would be classified as employer business expenses cannot be deducted from worker pay.  When individuals are independent contractors, these otherwise forbidden deductions may be effected because of this supposed non-employee status.  When those two worlds collide,…

The State of New Jersey (and many other states) has started to tighten up laws regarding independent contractor status. One troubling component (to management-side practitioners and employers alike) of this New Jersey initiative is to compel employers to post a notice that explains elements of independent contractor law and, essentially, invites workers to file suits…

The significance of the issue of independent contractor cannot be underestimated these days and this battle is being waged on any number of fronts, including when an entity may or may not enter a litigation as an intervener.  In a recent case, a New Jersey real estate trade association has been denied to enter an…

I have blogged numerous times about the strictness of the New Jersey A-B-C test as applied to possible independent contractors.  The prime example of this is the very recent assessment of Uber for $650,000,000 in back-due unemployment contributions.  This incredibly large assessment, certain to be litigated about for years, is a sign to employers, large,…

The New Jersey DOL is very aggressive on the issue of independent contractor status, i.e. the issue of misclassification.  The latest, perhaps best (or worst) illustration of this view is the agency’s determination that court reporters are employees for purposes of the Unemployment Law.  This errant decision, which cuts against traditional modes of thinking on…

When employers classify individuals as independent contractors, they are not obligated to provide them with certain benefits, as they would statutory employees.  Sometimes, if those individuals are found to not be independent contractors, those “failures” come back oftentimes to haunt the employers.  Another example of this phenomenon has happened in that a New Jersey appellate…

The issue of whether athletic referees are independent contractors has surfaced a few times in the last few years. Here, in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (the PIAA) that engages these referees has agreed to settle with a group of these individuals for $260,000 to close out a FLSA action, based on misclassification. The…