I’ve gotten a 1099 for decades. On Wednesday, New Jersey asks three questions.

I've been a 1099 worker more times than I can count.

Nightclubs. Voiceover sessions. DJ gigs on the side. My wife teaches yoga for a business that sends her a 1099 every January.

On Wednesday, Oct. 1, New Jersey starts applying new rules for deciding whether people like us are really independent contractors. So I sat down with the state's own test and asked how it reads for my household.

The ABC test, in plain English

According to the state Department of Labor, you're an independent contractor only if you pass all three:

• A, control: You're free from the company's control over how you do the work, on paper and in practice.
• B, the business: The work is outside the company's usual line of business, or it's done outside all of its places of business.
• C, independence: You're customarily engaged in your own independently established trade or business.

Miss one, and for state purposes you're an employee.

Here's the part most people miss. The test covers New Jersey's unemployment, wage and hour, and wage payment laws. It doesn't govern your federal taxes. Getting a 1099 doesn't settle anything in Trenton's eyes.

SEE ALSO: One week left. NJ's controversial 1099 rule takes effect October 1.

Photo by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash

How the questions read for us

The nightclub DJ. The club sets the nights and the hours. Playing music is a big part of what a nightclub sells, and I'm doing it in their building.

Prong B looks like the hard one there.

The voiceover work. I record in my own space, for different clients, and I control how the read sounds.

The state's rule says a remote worker's home doesn't count as the hiring company's place of business, according to the rule adoption notice. Of my three examples, this one reads most like a classic contractor.

The yoga class. Teaching yoga is exactly what a yoga business does, and the class happens on its schedule. Prong B again.

I'm not a lawyer, and neither is the internet. If you're a 1099 worker, this week is the week to call your accountant.

Two sides, one Wednesday

The state says everyone is overreacting. Acting Labor Commissioner Kevin Jarvis called the opposition a "river of misinformation," according to New Jersey Monitor.

"This is not a new test. This is not a change in enforcement," Jarvis said.

Business groups aren't buying it. Applying a 1930s-era test to today's gig economy "is where we're missing the mark," NJBIA's Jack Kelly told New Jersey Monitor.

Even Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) wanted the date pushed back. Lawmakers are now writing exemptions one job at a time. An Assembly committee passed one for insurance brokers, and bills for truck drivers and amateur sports officials are waiting.

If the test works, why do so many jobs need a way out?

That's the question I keep coming back to. The state has the answer until Wednesday. After that, businesses do.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 show host Eric Johnson only.