Department of Labor Reclassification

If they are not stopped, the bureaucrats in the state Department of Labor are determined to reclassify ALL sports officials in New Jersey as employees as of October 1, 2026, rather than independent contractors. This matters to you, because rather than accept such an onerous change in status - which would result in the bureaucratic nightmare of officials having DOZENS of "employers," - they will simply stop being officials and find another avocation they enjoy. We are ALREADY losing officials at an alarming rate, and this would be the death knell.

Fortunately for youth sports, some state legislators have common sense, and now the solution to this idiocy is gaining steam. There are bills in both houses of the state Legislature that would protect officals' status as independent contractors, A4736 in the Assembly, and S4045 in the Senate.

Please do the following to stop this insanity. Tell the legislators the truth: if the DOL is not stopped NOW, their foolish bureaucratic overreach will destroy youth sports in New Jersey, because there will be NO OFFICIALS to work the games:

1. Find out who your local state assembly and state senate representative are by using the tool I've linked below. You simply put in your home address, and it tells you what district you are in. You then clck on your district, and get contact info for your two assembly reps and senate rep.

2. Write them or call their offices and tell them why the DOL's ill-considered action will kill youth sports in New Jersey.

3. Then write and call the following key members who are in charge of the bills' fate:

Senate President:

Nicholas Scutari ****

SenScutari@njleg.org

Assembly Speaker:

Craig Coughlin *****

AsmCoughlin@njleg.org

Assembly Majority Leader:

Lou Greenwald

AsmGreenwald@njleg.org

Assembly Labor Committee: