Posts tagged independent contractors
Freelance Busting: “They All Had A Different Answer”
October 20, 2026 // Senator after senator described statewide confusion about the rule among business owners, attorneys, accountants and constituents. Senators said people are constantly asking them about the legality of continuing to hire every conceivable kind of working person, from financial advisers to babysitters. One senator described what’s happening in some industries as “panic mode.” Another said he convened accountants in his district to ask about the independent-contractor rule, and “they all had a different answer.” Yet another asked, “Who’s the guru of the determining if you pass or fail the ABC Test?” and wondered aloud if there was going to be a Division of ABC Test Clarification within the state’s Labor Department.
Lefty NYC labor bill would kill Amazon, UPS jobs, warns dire letter
October 20, 2026 // Business groups are demanding the City Council block a controversial labor bill backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his progressive comrades — arguing it will slap crippling mandates on crucial job providers. The coalition, including the Taxpayers Protection Alliance and the American Consumer Institute, fired off a letter to the Democratic-led council and Speaker Julie Menin on Tuesday warning that the proposed Delivery Protection Act would come at “substantial cost’’ to companies such as Amazon and UPS — and thus consumers.
Commentary: New Jersey Takes Aim at Freedom of Its Independent Contractors
October 16, 2026 // In 2019, the legislature voted in AB5, and it was quickly signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Enforcement went into effect in 2020, and as Karen Anderson, founder of Freelancers Against AB5, explained on her Substack, four years later, independent professionals are still experiencing the fallout.
Committee on the Education and Workforce Grapples with Unions and Lawmakers Being Out of Touch
September 29, 2026 // Chougule also pointed to the lack of support by unions and certain representatives on the Employment and the Workforce Committee, for the Employee Rights Act. The Act would require unions to obtain opt-in permission from a member before using his or her dues and fees on political activity or policy advocacy—a provision which enjoys 81% support from union households.
Commentary: Are Unions Rising from the Political Grave?
September 21, 2026 // Here again, however, there may be less than meets the eye. Despite its surprising bipartisan support, the FLCA would raise significant constitutional questions if enacted. By relying on a government-mandated arbitration panel to resolve labor disputes, the law effectively empowers the state to impose contractual terms on private parties—a form of what constitutional lawyers call “state action.” As attorneys Alex MacDonald and Vinnie Vernuccio observe: “[S]tate action opens the door to a slew of constitutional requirements and restrictions, notably to protect rights of free speech and association.”
Labor Day: Americans Flee Forced-Unionism States and Move to Right-to-Work States
September 6, 2026 // Among the top ten growth states in the U-Haul index, nine have a Right-to-Work law that protects workers from being forced to pay dues to union bosses as a condition of employment. -Among the bottom ten states in the U-Haul index, NONE has a Right-to-Work law. All are forced unionism states. -Of the 25 top ranked cities in the U-Haul Growth Index, 24 are located in Right-to-Work states.
Commentary: And Now, Chicago
August 28, 2026 // These “core services” bills are yet another variation on trying to achieve the goals that unionists detailed in 2018, when they called for “admittedly radically different” policies to try and shift entire industries into unionizable employee status. You don’t have to be a genius to anticipate that more “core services” bills are about to pop up in more cities soon.
Freelance Busting: The “Core” Concern
August 18, 2026 // Take one look at the actual language of New York City’s Delivery Protection Act, and even a non-lawyer like me can see that it portends something eerily similar to California’s AB5. The slope is slippery. This bill’s language could be used in the future, with just a bit of alteration, to force union-ready employment status on all kinds of people who are currently earning some or all of our income as our own bosses
New Jersey Revives the Fight To Reclassify Gig Workers as Employees
August 18, 2026 // All of these laws are designed to apply employee-style rules to gig workers, even if broad reclassification had failed to take off legislatively across the country. Yet recent rule making from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development shows that stringent ABC tests are unfortunately far from dead.
‘Delivery Protection Act’ Pits NYC Mayor Mamdani And The Teamsters Against Amazon
August 17, 2026 // Opposition comes from a broad-based business coalition—Amazon, FedEx, logistics and trucking firms, all five borough chambers of commerce, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, Tech: NYC, the Supply Chain Federation, the Trucking Association of New York, the Five Borough Jobs Campaign and others. A study commissioned by the Five Borough Jobs Campaign estimated passage would increase annual delivery costs to New York households by $664 and threaten more than 10,000 city workers. With the bill pending a City Council vote, supporters have intensified their efforts to push the vote forward after Mayor Mamdani threw his support behind it—calling Amazon’s contractor-based delivery model exploitative and a danger to NYC workers, drivers and pedestrians.