Many folks have commented on the New York State Commercial Goods Transportation Industry Fair Play Act, which was recently signed by the Governor and will not be effective until March 11, 2014, and several sources are predicting gloom and doom for motor carriers once the Act is implemented. On its face, the Act is not particularly good news; however, after careful scrutiny it may not be as troublesome for the motor carriers as many are fearing.

Certainly, the Act has the overriding purpose of creating a presumption of employment in the commercial goods transportation industry. Its language provides that any person performing commercial goods transportation services for a commercial goods transportation contractor shall be classified as an employee unless the person is a “separate business entity” or all of the criteria of a traditional ”ABC Test” are met. However, once the details of the Act are studied, it is not as bad as the introductory language might suggest.