It has been a busy 1st quarter to the year and we have a bit of Spring Cleaning to do.
Here are a few of the major announcements that you may have missed.
Bad News First: President Obama authorized funds for the additional enforcement to “detect and deter” the misclassification of independent contractors. This includes hiring more investigators to find and assess companies that utilize independent contractors. You may recall in our October newsletter that one of our new clients went through such an audit and was forced to settle because they were unable to meet the Economic Realty Test. (They have since come into compliance).
Lesson: Better to be safe than sorry, be proactive instead of reactive!
Better News: Senate Bill No. 2033 in New Jersey carves out a niche for vehicles weighing more than 10,000 lbs. so that those vehicles and their operators would not be accountable to the NJ ABC Test. There are caveats to the bill but nothing onerous.
This is great news for companies utilizing mid-size and larger box trucks. It also simplifies the previous 18,000 exemption which included more strenuous restrictions.
Lesson: Keep up the pressure on your local lawmakers!
Great News: The Appellate Division, 3rd Department, of the Supreme Court in New York recently decided a case which was a major victory for the industry. In a common sense decision (a case in which the authors of this letter were heavily involved), the Court found that the Administrative Law Judge and the Appeal Board seriously erred in deciding that a former contractor/vendor was an employee of one of our clients.
The Court found no less than 10 major factors that led them to rule against the Department of Labor and in favor of the Appellant. The Justices reinforced the position that we have held for the last ten years which is that the Department of Labor and the Appeal Board are unrealistic in their position of who is and who is not an independent contractor.
Lesson: When you are in the Right, keep up the Fight!
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