Dec 6, 2019

Independent contractor bill amended in committee

A bill that could change the way businesses classify workers, which was reported out of the Senate Labor Committee (S-4204) last month, has been amended to reflect changes in the Assembly bill (A-5936). The original legislation would have made small, but significant changes to the test that businesses should apply to workers whom they wish to designate as independent contractors—colloquially known as the ABC test.

The amendments to the Senate bill would restore language in the “B” part of the test so that employees working outside the places of the employers’ business will continue to qualify as independent contractors. They also will specify that, in meeting the existing “C” part of the test, the service an individual performs must be “of the same nature” of the business or enterprise in which they are normally engaged.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Stephen M. Sweeney, D-3, said that he is reviewing other requests for modifications to the bill, but will maintain the legislation’s focus and emphasis on the protection of workers’ rights and the prevention of misclassification. “Misclassification not only hurts workers, it hurts law-abiding businesses and the state,” said Sweeney.

“These bills will simply codify into law existing regulations so that future administrations can’t ignore, change or discard the protections already in place to protect workers against the loss of basic rights by being misclassified,” said Sweeney. “We want to put into law the current regulations to ensure their future viability. The amendments to the bill will continue to ensure the ability of legitimate independent contractors to pursue their work at the same time they safeguard against misclassification.”

The legislation is not the same as the California law.