Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Chapter 149 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1988 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following section:-

Section 148B. For the purpose of this section, individuals performing any service, except services authorized under this chapter, shall be deemed to be employees under this section unless and until it is shown that: such individual has been and will continue to be free from control and direction in connection with the performance of such service under his contract; and such service is performed either outside the usual course of the business for which the service is performed or is performed outside of all places of business of the enterprise; and, such individual is customarily engaged in an independently established occupation, profession or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed. The failure to withhold federal or state income taxes, unemployment compensation or workers compensation from an employee's wages shall not be used for the purposes of making a determination under this section. The president and treasurer of a corporation and any officer or agent having the management of such corporation shall be deemed the employer within the meaning of this section.

Whoever violates this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than two months in the house of correction, or both such fine and imprisonment.