While summer vacations unfolded, New Jersey wage and hour law saw two significant developments. On June 1, 2026, New Jersey regulations outlining the “ABC test” for determining employee versus independent contractor status under several major New Jersey statutes took effect. On June 29, 2026, the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court confirmed that employees may bring representative actions under certain New Jersey wage statutes outside the confines of the federal or state procedural rules governing class actions. Companies with workforces in New Jersey should take note.
The New Jersey Administrative Code now expressly identifies the statutes and Department of Labor and Workforce Development for which “the issue of independent contractor status is based on application of the ABC test.” N.J.A.C. § 12:11-1.1. These include the Wage Payment Law, Wage and Hour Law, Earned Sick Leave Law, and Call Center Jobs Act.
For some of these statutes, application of the ABC test had been addressed through case law before the new regulations. The regulations incorporate certain conclusions that courts have developed through case law—for example, that putative employers do not exercise control over workers for purposes of prong A of the test merely by taking steps to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations. N.J.A.C. § 12:11-1.3(f).
Other concepts were considered but ultimately omitted from the...
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