Posts tagged Independent Contractor Rule
New Jersey: Kim Kavin: Carveout Chaos Ahead
October 2, 2026 // Anderson is the founder of Freelancers Against AB5, the leading advocacy group in California that is still trying to figure out how to get that state’s ABC Test law repealed. She is currently a Future of Work Fellow with the Institute for the American Worker in Washington, D.C., an excellent program about labor and employment policy that I completed earlier this year. And, Anderson and I both testified before Congress on this issue in 2023, when her testimony included the following passage, some three years after California’s ABC Test law and a cleanup bill that followed it had gone into effect:
‘Severe Adverse Impact’
September 8, 2026 // Scutari’s action is good news for independent contractors like me. He is showing leadership on this policy issue in response to all the independent contractors and the broader business community who continue to stand in fierce opposition to the rulemaking, which attempts to impose the Labor Department’s own interpretation of regulatory language that defines who can legitimately earn income as an independent contractor throughout the state.
Kim Kavin: ‘Severely Broken’
July 9, 2026 // New Jersey lawmakers should begin by passing ACR73 and SCR62. These concurrent resolutions, already introduced in the state Senate and Assembly, would declare the new independent-contractor rule inconsistent with legislative intent and would invalidate it. That’s the quick fix to stop the very real threat that is causing even some of the highest-earning professions to seek carveout protections before the rule takes effect October 1.
Op-ed: To High Praise and Hallelujahs, Trump Nominates Keith Sonderling for Secretary of Labor
June 30, 2026 // As Acting Secretary, Sonderling has strongly advocated for Trump's pro-business and pro-worker agenda, touting the manufacturing jobs that have been returned to the U.S., and has worked tirelessly to beef up and expand apprenticeships through the U.S. Department of Labor for small businesses and private-sector concerns. Under Biden's DOL, apprenticeships were issued through the major labor unions like the AFL-CIO and SEIU, effectively cutting out any private sector opportunities. Sonderling has also long been a champion for defined benefit pension plan sponsors to be able to use group annuities to protect pension benefits through pension risk transfers, and to allow employers to incorporate retirement plan options like cryptocurrency assets and private credit funds. But most pivotal, Sonderling is working hand-in-hand with the Fraud Task Force to eradicate the rampant unemployment insurance fraud.
Freelance Busting: The Lady Problem
June 15, 2026 // The Legislature should support this concurrent resolution, not just because of testimony in recent months that revealed employee misclassification isn’t a big problem in the first place, but also to make clear that the state supports all of us women who own and operate New Jersey’s smallest of small businesses. We are the translators, the financial advisers, the graphic designers, the traveling nurses, the dog walkers, the wedding planners, the writers, the photographers and so many, many more types of professionals who are worthy of real protection against this relentless, remorseless freelance busting.
Unions, businesses urge legislators in opposite directions on independent contractor rules
May 13, 2026 // “New Jersey’s labor department says it may consider some factors in one case but not in another case, so who knows what matters?” said Kim Kavin, a freelance writer long opposed to ABC regulations. “The department says it may consider factors that aren’t listed anywhere.”
Commentary: The 2026 Battle of Trenton
May 12, 2026 // Unfortunately, my camera failed to record video of my testimony, and there is no video from the state—only an audio recording of the hearing. But suffice it to say that, as usual, I found myself in a hearing room largely dominated by men, testifying before a panel of senators who are all male, as debate raged about policy that economic research shows is already having a disproportionate and negative impact on women.
100 State Leaders Urge Washington to Protect Independent Work
May 8, 2026 // That is why State Policy Network’s Center for Practical Federalism helped organize a coalition of 100 state leaders from 25 states in support of the US Department of Labor’s proposed rule clarifying independent contractor status under federal law. The coalition includes four statewide officials and 96 state legislators. The proposed rule would rescind the Biden administration’s 2024 independent contractor rule and replace it with a clearer standard for determining when a worker is an employee and when a worker may be classified as an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.
NEW JERSEY: NJBIA Urges Sherrill Administration to Not Adopt Independent Contractor Rule
April 29, 2026 // Further, in data highlighted in Extremism and Entrepreneurism, a 98-page report from Freelance Busting founder Kim Kavin, there is already empirical research by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University showing that New Jersey’s ABC test applications have already resulted in the following from 1995-2024: a 3.81% decrease in W-2 employment a 10.08% decrease in self-employment a 3.95% decrease in overall employment a 7.40% decrease in women’s W-2 employment Kavin’s report also found evidence suggesting the underlying claim by labor groups to restrict independent contracting in New Jersey was based “largely on mischaracterized data and research.”
Commentary: Freelancers are not victims. Federal regulations should stop victimizing us
April 7, 2026 // The Trump 2026 IC rule follows the framework of the Trump 2021 IC rule, but applies modifications to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers Protection Act (MSPA). The modifications narrow previously broad language on what constitutes an “employee,” while delineating that independent contractors are not employees. The 2026 IC rule further nullifies the six-factor “economic reality” test housed in the 2024 Biden IC rule.