CYPHR Register · Employment
Do New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania use the ABC test for worker classification?
New Jersey uses the ABC test. New York and Pennsylvania do not. New York uses a common-law control test, ABC-style only in construction and goods transport. Pennsylvania uses a two-part test.
The short version
If you move one worker across these three state lines without changing anything about the job, the answer to “are they a contractor?” can change twice. The three states do not share a test.
New Jersey. New Jersey classifies a worker as an employee unless the business proves all three of the ABC criteria. New Jersey is the only one of the three states whose general test is a three-part ABC test. Its reach is not limited to unemployment claims: the New Jersey Supreme Court held that the same test governs wage-payment and wage-and-hour claims.
New York. New York measures employee status by a multifactor test of the control the employer exercises. New York applies an ABC-style presumption in construction and in commercial goods transportation only. Outside those two industries, the common-law control test is the standard.
Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania requires the business to show freedom from control and customary engagement in an independently established trade. Pennsylvania has no outside the usual course of business prong. That missing prong is the whole difference, and it is why Pennsylvania is the easiest of the three for a business to satisfy.
Side by side
| State | General test | What the business must show | ABC by industry |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | Three-part ABC test | Freedom from control; the service is outside the usual course of the business or performed outside all of its places of business; an independently established trade | Not needed — ABC is the general test |
| New York | Common-law control test | The degree of control over the results produced and the means by which the services are rendered | Construction and commercial goods transportation |
| Pennsylvania | Two-part test | Freedom from control; an independently established trade. No third prong | Not checked — see the note below |
Sources for every row are in the table below, each quoted from the instrument itself.
The details that catch people out
New Jersey's B prong can be satisfied two ways
New Jersey's second criterion is written in the alternative: the service is either outside the usual course of the business for which it is performed, or it is performed outside of all the places of business of that enterprise. A business that fails the first half can still pass on the second. New York's sector rules are drafted without that alternative.
New York's two ABC-style statutes are not the same statute twice
The three lettered criteria in the construction Act and the commercial goods transportation Act are word for word identical. The transportation Act adds a condition the construction Act does not have: payment for the services must be reported on a Federal Income Tax form 1099 where the law requires it. Reading one and assuming the other is the mistake the identical wording invites.
Pennsylvania is missing the prong that decides most cases
The prong that most often defeats contractor status elsewhere is the one asking whether the work is part of the hiring business's usual course of business. Pennsylvania's general test does not contain it. A worker who is an employee in New Jersey because the work is core to the business can be a contractor in Pennsylvania on the same facts.
These tests answer one question, not every question
Each of the three general tests quoted here comes from that state's unemployment compensation law. A single worker can be a contractor under one statute and an employee under another in the same state. New Jersey is the one state here where we can show you the reach past unemployment: its Supreme Court extended the ABC test to wage-payment and wage-and-hour claims.
Where this comes from
| Instrument | Section | What it says, word for word | Source | Checked | State of check |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey Unemployment Compensation Law, R.S.43:21-1 et seq. | R.S.43:21-19(i)(6)(A)-(C) | unless and until it is shown to the satisfaction of the division that: (A) Such individual has been and will continue to be free from control or direction over the performance of such service, both under his contract of service and in fact; (B) Such service is either outside the usual course of the business for which such service is performed, or that such service is performed outside of all the places of business of the enterprise for which such service is performed; and (C) Such individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business. | nj.gov | 2026-08-28 | Checked at source |
| Hargrove v. Sleepy's, LLC, 220 N.J. 289 (2015) | holding | Therefore, we hold that any employment-status dispute arising under the WPL and WHL should be resolved by utilizing the “ABC” test set forth in N.J.S.A. 43:21-19(i)(6)(A)-(C). | njcourts.gov | 2026-08-28 | Checked at source |
| Matter of Vega (Postmates Inc.—Commissioner of Labor), 35 NY3d 131 (2020) | opinion of the Court | the existence of an employer-employee relationship is measured under a multifactor test to determine the control exercised by the employer over the results produced and the means by which services are rendered | nycourts.gov | 2026-08-28 | Checked at source |
| N.Y. Labor Law art. 25-B, Construction Industry Fair Play Act | §861-c(1)(a)-(c) | Any person performing services for a contractor shall be classified as an employee unless the person is a separate business entity under subdivision two of this section or all of the following criteria are met … (b) the service must be performed outside the usual course of business for which the service is performed | nysenate.gov | 2026-08-28 | Checked at source |
| N.Y. Labor Law art. 25-C, Commercial Goods Transportation Industry Fair Play Act | §862-b(1)(a)-(c) | shall be classified as an employee … unless payment for such services is reported on a Federal Income Tax form 1099 if required by law and either the person is a separate business entity under subdivision two of this section or all of the following criteria are met | nysenate.gov | 2026-08-28 | Checked at source |
| Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Law, Act of Dec. 5, 1936, Sp. Sess. 2, P.L. (1937) 2897, No. 1 | §4(l)(2)(B), codified 43 P.S. §753(l)(2)(B) | unless and until it is shown to the satisfaction of the department that--(a) such individual has been and will continue to be free from control or direction over the performance of such services both under his contract of service and in fact; and (b) as to such services such individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business. | palegis.us | 2026-08-28 | Checked at source |
We fetched each source on the date shown and quoted the operative words directly. The New York sections are the official consolidated-law text, not a bill. Long quotations are trimmed at the marked ellipsis; nothing between the quoted words has been changed.
What we have not verified
- The three general tests here come from each state's unemployment compensation law. We did not check whether New York's or Pennsylvania's standard also governs wage-and-hour, workers' compensation or tax classification, and a state can use different tests for different purposes. New Jersey is the exception: we read the decision extending its test to wage-payment and wage-and-hour claims.
- We did not check whether Pennsylvania has industry-specific classification statutes of the kind New York has for construction and goods transportation. Our Pennsylvania source is the general standard only.
- We could not source an enacting chapter law for New York's two Fair Play Acts. The official pages give the article, the sections and a 2014 revision date, but no enacting chapter. We have left that citation out rather than supply a number we cannot show you.
- We read the instruments themselves. We did not read the regulations, agency guidance or enforcement practice underneath them, and we did not read the case law applying these tests to particular facts.
- We did not check the federal tests. Federal law applies its own classification standards on top of the state ones, and meeting a state test does not settle the federal question.
- We checked these sources on August 28, 2026. We have not checked whether any of them changed after that date.
- This is a description of what these instruments say. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for your own counsel on your own facts.
Related
The other entry on hiring across these three states is what job postings must disclose under New York and New Jersey pay-transparency laws. This entry is part of the CYPHR Register — questions answered from the law itself, each one dated and sourced. Why we publish the sources at all is set out on the evidence page. The corpus behind these answers is CYPHR Intelligence.