New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy took my question live on News12 New Jersey this afternoon. I had posed the question on X about the Department of Labor & Workforce Development’s proposed independent-contractor rule:
You can see Murphy’s response in the video above. He laughs out loud at the 99% opposition in the public comments, and then describes that level of opposition by saying: “There’s a lot of passion on all sides of this.”
It is unclear what the governor means when he says “all sides.” As you can see for yourself in the public comments, there are two sides when it comes to the Labor Department’s proposal:
People employed by unions or affiliated with organizations that have strong union ties dominate the side that wants this.
Pretty much everyone else in the state is opposed, telling the Murphy administration to stop what it’s doing because it would risk undermining access to justice in our courts, jeopardize public safety, threaten children’s safety in youth sports, be potentially catastrophic for serving infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities, and more.
I explained these two sides to Murphy’s chief policy adviser, Dennis Zeveloff, in a followup video call after last month’s News12 New Jersey show.
Zeveloff’s response to me was: “That’s helpful to know.”
It’s Murphy’s Go-To Line
The “passion on all sides” line seems to be something Murphy has memorized, like a bit from a stump speech. He said the same thing about the independent-contractor rule proposal in response to a reporter from NJBIZ last month, too:
“Governor, an issue that’s been getting a lot of attention is this proposed rule change around independent contractors and gig workers. Wanted to get your thoughts on the proposal itself and any reactions to the pushback?”
“It’s in a sort of stakeholder engagement phase right now. And I’m going to probably stand back and allow that process to play out. I know there’s a lot of passion on all sides of this—and I’ve heard it directly myself. But let’s let this play out—and God willing, it’ll land in a good place for workers and for our economy.”
For the record, Almighty intervention is not needed to stop New Jersey’s Labor Department from threatening independent contractors’ livelihoods.
The Labor Department is part of the Murphy administration. The governor has the power to rescind this proposal, to protect the incomes and careers of New Jersey’s estimated 1.7 million independent contractors.
He’s choosing not to do it, while laughing about it.
