Independent Contractor Status Doesn’t Automatically Carry Over Under State Law
- The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey ruled in Tomasello v. ICF Technology, Inc. that adult livestream performers on the Streamate platform were “independent contractors” under federal law but “employees” under New Jersey wage statutes, highlighting how classification outcomes can diverge sharply depending on which legal standard applies.
- Applying the federal economic reality test to the performers’ Fair Labor Standards Act minimum wage claims, the court found they were independent contractors because they controlled their own schedules, set some pricing, could work for competing platforms and had a non-exclusive, non-permanent relationship with Streamate.
- Under New Jersey’s stricter “ABC test,” which presumes employee status unless the employer proves all three prongs, the court found Streamate failed Prong B, since the platform’s “usual course of business” was selling access to livestream content, and the performers were providing that core product, the work couldn’t be considered “outside” the company’s usual business.
- Because Streamate failed to satisfy the ABC test, the court granted the performers summary judgment on their New Jersey Wage and Hour Law and Wage Payment Law claims, signaling that platform businesses relying on 1099 workers to deliver their core product face heightened misclassification risk under New Jersey law regardless of federal classification.
Firefighter: Workers’ Comp Fight Harder Than Injury Itself
- A St. Petersburg, Fla. firefighter says his biggest fight hasn’t been recovering from his injury, but battling the workers’ compensation system after it stopped paying benefits and denied ongoing care. Attorney Geoff Bichler, who represents the firefighters in the case before Florida’s Office of Judges of Compensation Claims, says a nurse case manager repeatedly intervened to reverse doctors’ treatment recommendations and disrupt his lost-wage compensation, calling it one of the most egregious examples of this pattern he’s seen.
- The firefighter suffered a traumatic brain injury, jaw injury, and neck injury in October 2025 when a fire hydrant blew off the ground and struck him in the face while he responded to a house fire; he was hospitalized for nearly a week and has continued experiencing headaches, cognitive symptoms, and nightmares in the months since.
- The City of St. Petersburg, which is self-insured for workers’ compensation with Commercial Risk Management as its third-party administrator, said it follows standard procedures under Florida statutes but declined to comment on Tyler’s specific case; the firefighters’ union said it believes Tyler has received all benefits he’s entitled to under the policy, while Tyler remains on light duty as he continues fighting to return to the job.