At a time when workforce reductions and salary and benefit cuts are widespread, the federal government has started cracking down on companies that misclassify workers as independent contractors.  Several states have followed suit.  

The Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law, enacted in 1990, was intended to stop companies, namely construction firms, from depriving workers of benefits such as unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation, health care and overtime pay by bringing them on as independent contractors instead of regular employees.  In 2004 Massachusetts stepped up enforcements and tightened the law now requiring businesses to meet a strict three-part test to determine a worker's status.  Recent amendments to the Massachusetts law now require a Massachusetts contractor to provide services "outside the usual business of the employer" - an impossible task for freelance photographers, editors, artists and photo researchers.  

An unintended result of this law is that Massachusetts freelancers, including ASPP members, are losing business.  They are watching their work be assigned to freelancers from other states (without independent contractor's laws) or even being outsourced to India.

If you are interested in learning more about this issue we encourage you to read an article recently published in the Boston Globe.  And, if you're a freelancer in Massachusetts, please let your state representative and senator how you feel about this critical issue.

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