Advertisement Employers Beware – New Jersey Is Signaling That the State Is Ready for Enforcement of Its New Worker Misclassification Laws Monday, July 12, 2021 On July 8, 2021, Governor Murphy signed four bills regarding worker misclassification, increasing penalties and enforcement against businesses that misclassify workers as independent contractors. These laws amend and expand upon the worker misclassification laws previously enacted in January 2020, which we addressed in our prior alert (the “January 2020 Laws”). The January 2020 Laws enhanced liability for managers, making them jointly and severally liable for wage violations, and made posting violations and retaliation for misclassification complaints a disorderly persons offense. Further, these laws created new administrative requirements, permitted “stop-work orders,” provided back pay to improperly classified workers of up to 5% of their prior year’s gross earnings, and increased fines to $250 per employee for a first violation and up to $1,000 per employee for subsequent violations involving worker misclassification (and notably this is aside from any potential penalties for failing to properly withhold payroll taxes). However, given the pandemic, enforcement of the January 2020 Laws largely stalled. Collectively, the prior and current laws demonstrate New Jersey’s renewed focus and expansion of resources, enforcement powers, and penalties to support the State’s efforts to curb misclassification of workers. Indeed, the State’s focus on proper worker classification of employees is not surprising as such measures generate much needed revenue in the form of payroll taxes.