Companies that provide court-reporting services are claiming that the state Department of Labor is targeting their industry with audits in order to change the employment status of stenographers from independent contractors to employees. A recent decision from the Office of Administrative Law appears to pour cold water on the state’s efforts, but an appeal already has been filed. At the center of the case is a 2010 legislative amendment that the department contends is invalid.An administrative law judge ruled April 18 that an agency called Jersey Shore Reporting is not liable to pay unemployment or temporary disability taxes for its court reporter employees in 2010. That was the year a state law was enacted to exempt court reporters from being classified as employees, but the Department of Labor and Workforce Development contended that the exemption does not apply to Jersey Shore. Before 2010, the services of court reporters were.....MORE
