Many local businesses are paying attention to this law, as it carries fines if broken. This means that, if you're a freelancer in the state of Massachusetts, you cannot be hired.
Fortunately, this bill is awaiting committee discussion: Bill S. 670, An Act Relative to Independent Contractors. The bill has been scheduled for a public hearing sometime in January. Note that there is a similar bill in the House, House No. 1844. To see the text of the actual Bills you can click on the following URL http://www.mass.gov/legis/then enter the appropriate number for the particular bill: 670 for the Senate bill and 1844 for the House Bill.
Please sign this petition to show your support. Please send this to every Massachusetts freelancer you know, the people who work with them, and the people who care about them, and ask them to sign it. If we can show that people want this law changed, we will have a better chance at doing so at the hearing in January.
Many local businesses are paying attention to this law, as it carries fines if broken. This means that, if you're a freelancer in the state of Massachusetts, you cannot be hired.
Fortunately, this bill is awaiting committee discussion: Bill S. 670, An Act Relative to Independent Contractors. The bill has been scheduled for a public hearing sometime in January. Note that there is a similar bill in the House, House No. 1844. To see the text of the actual Bills you can click on the following URL http://www.mass.gov/legis/then enter the appropriate number for the particular bill: 670 for the Senate bill and 1844 for the House Bill.
Please sign this petition to show your support. Please send this to every Massachusetts freelancer you know, the people who work with them, and the people who care about them, and ask them to sign it. If we can show that people want this law changed, we will have a better chance at doing so at the hearing in January.
I am writing to request that you show your support for Senate Bill 670, "An Act Relative to Independent Contractors."
The original bill (M.G.L.- Chapter 149, Section 148b) requires businesses to meet the
following three standards when defining an individual as an independent contractor:
(1) the individual is free from control and direction in connection with the performance of
the service, both under his contract for the performance of service and in fact; and
(2) the service is performed outside the usual course of the business of the employer; and,
(3) the individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed.
S670 is designed to allow employers to contract with other businesses or individuals by relaxing certain employee requirements. Specifically it deletes clause 2 of Ch.149, Sec.148B requiring that the service is performed outside the usual business of the employer. It also adds to Clause 3 by requiring that they are customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation or business and have registered it pursuant to state law.%u201D
This bill, as it now stands, broadly affects many occupations and industries. Many businesses do not wish to expand their staff on a year-round basis but wish to do so only when they need help for a specific project or time. Hiring non-employees (independent contractors), on a mutually agreed upon basis, provides these businesses with flexibility and allows them to better control the flow of work during the busiest part of their season. As a result of this bill and because other states do not use the Massachusetts three-prong test, independent contractors, who live in Massachusetts, are not being hired. Instead Massachusetts businesses are hiring independent contractors who live in other states. This law not only impacts the ability of Massachusetts residents to make a living, but it is also reducing Massachusetts tax revenue in a very challenging economy.
I understand that this law was initially intended for employers who intentionally sought to curb their financial and legal obligations to employees. Instead it has had the unintended consequence of preventing Massachusetts%u2019 residents, who want to work on an independent Contractor basis, from working.
