Taxpayer Advocacy and Policy Groups call for halt to implementation and protections for residents who choose independent work

TRENTON, N.J. — Jersey 1st and New Jersey Policy Institute (NJPI) today warned that New Jersey’s independent contractor regulations, scheduled to become operative today, October 1, threaten to reduce opportunities for freelancers, working parents, caregivers and small business owners at a time when the state can ill afford to lose more jobs. 

“Trenton is making it harder to earn a living in a state where families are already struggling to afford one,” said Rosemary Becchi, President and Founder of Jersey 1st. “For a working parent fitting assignments around school pickup, a caregiver balancing work with family responsibilities, or a freelancer building a business, flexibility is essential. These regulations risk taking that flexibility away, along with the income that comes with it.”

The regulations formalize the Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s controversial interpretation of New Jersey’s existing “ABC test." Along with every major employer group, and even youth sports umpires and referees, Senate President Nick Scutari has urged the Governor to delay the implementation of these regulations that would have far-reaching economic consequences.

Jersey 1st and NJPI warned that compliance costs and concerns about classification disputes could lead businesses to cancel freelance assignments, reduce their use of independent professionals or move projects to providers outside New Jersey. An assignment that disappears does not automatically become a full-time job with benefits. It can simply become lost income.

Those consequences could impact freelance writers, graphic designers, consultants, and other independent professionals, as well as retirees supplementing their income and people whose caregiving responsibilities or disabilities make conventional work schedules difficult.

“State officials should listen to the people who deliberately choose to work independently,” Becchi said. “Many have spent years developing clients, setting their own schedules, and building livelihoods around their families. They deserve policies that respect those choices.”

The implementation comes amid significant weakness in New Jersey’s job market. July’s preliminary loss of 25,600 jobs prompted former state chief economist Charles Steindel to identify it as the largest monthly decline since October 1990, excluding the pandemic. Although that estimate was subsequently revised, the latest state report still shows a July loss of 21,900 jobs, followed by another 1,700 lost in August.

“At a time when New Jersey has experienced job losses drawing comparisons to the downturn of the early 1990s, imposing additional barriers to work is reckless,” Wells Winegar, Executive Director of NJPI said. “We believe this approach will cost New Jersey jobs, drive business elsewhere, and leave families with fewer ways to pay their bills.”

The organizations called on Governor Sherrill and state lawmakers to halt implementation and pursue clear protections for legitimate independent businesses while maintaining enforcement against actual worker misclassification.

“Protecting workers must include protecting their ability to find work,” Winegar said. “New Jersey needs more opportunity, more flexibility and more reasons for businesses to stay. The state legislature should act before more livelihoods become collateral damage.”