'Far Beyond Reasonable Regulation'
The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce—with 159 local and regional chambers—urges the Labor Department to rethink its independent-contractor proposal.
Today, the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce is filing a letter of opposition to the state Department of Labor & Workforce Development’s proposed independent contractor rule.
This letter states that the proposed rule-making goes “far beyond reasonable regulation” and “will disqualify a wide range of legitimate independent contractor relationships across dozens of industries.”
It is co-signed by 159 local and regional chambers, including the African American Chamber of Commerce, the New Jersey State Women’s Chamber of Commerce, the New Jersey Pride Chamber of Commerce and the New Jersey State Veterans Chamber of Commerce:
I particularly like the part at the end of this letter where the Chamber urges the state to “consider adopting a more appropriate test to ensure independence of legitimate contractors.”
The Chamber is correct. It’s time for an entirely new approach to this kind of policy-making, not only in New Jersey, but all across the country.
Tool vs. Weapon
As I wrote about a year ago, there is a big difference between a tool and a weapon. Imagine a baseball bat. It’s a great tool if you’re the cleanup hitter who knocks a fastball out of the ballpark as the crowd goes wild—but it’s a weapon if that same big guy instead turns toward the spectators and starts swinging at innocent people, destroying their lives.
Regulatory language used to distinguish between employees and independent contractors is supposed to be a tool. The wave of freelance busting that began in California a half dozen years ago is attempting to turn it into a weapon.
As I told the U.S. Senate when I testified last month: “This is not targeting employee misclassification. This is weaponizing regulatory language to attack independent contractors.”
I laid out the whole case in my five-minute opening statement:
Last Chance to Speak Up
The deadline is tomorrow, August 6, to file a public comment opposing New Jersey’s proposed independent-contractor rule.
Email david.fish@dol.nj.gov and reference “Proposed New Rules: N.J.A.C. 12:11 ABC Test; Independent Contractors,” or fill out the form at Save Independent Work NJ.
Tell the New Jersey Labor Department to rescind this proposal altogether. The freelance busting needs to stop. Independent contractors need to be respected and protected, once and for all.