For Immediate Release: February 10, 2022
Office of The Attorney General
Andrew J. Bruck, Acting Attorney General
TRENTON – Acting Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck announced today that New Jersey is co-leading a multistate effort to support the adoption by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) of stronger protections for workers whose employers would misclassify them as independent contractors — a designation that can deprive workers of wages earned, core workplace benefits and the ability to organize.
In an amicus brief filed with the NLRB today, New Jersey urges the Board to adopt a more worker-protective standard for determining whether a worker is an employee protected by federal labor laws safeguarding the right to organize and collectively bargain, or, in the alternative, an independent contractor not covered by such legal protections.
Acting Attorney General Bruck is co-leading today’s multi-state amicus brief to the NLRB along with Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. A total of 14 other Attorneys General have signed onto the brief, which describes misclassification as a burgeoning problem that harms both workers and states, and asserts that “this is not the time to weaken protections” against the employer tactic.
“Here in New Jersey, we care about workers’ rights,” said Acting Attorney General Bruck. “Workers who are misclassified as independent contractors end up suffering a whole host of disadvantages – including substandard wages, denial of workplace safety protections, denial of employment benefits they rightfully deserve and, crucially, the right to fight for improved working conditions by organizing and collectively bargaining.”