The Morris County Golf Club is one of the most prestigious in the state, an establishment founded nearly 130 years ago that boasts an elite members-only club surrounded by a sprawling 150-acre course designed by world-class architect Seth Raynor.
The invitation-only club operates each season with a roughly 30-member team of caddies, who lend physical and moral support to golfers, but who claim their value is not being rightfully compensated by their employers in return. In a lawsuit filed in state Superior Court in Morris County, a former caddie says he and others didn’t even get paid minimum wage or overtime pay, despite working long hours on the course.
Jose Yanez, who worked during the 2020 season, filed a proposed class action suit on behalf of an estimated 50 caddies who were employed at the Morristown-based association from August 2019 through the September 28 filing of the complaint. He seeks unpaid overtime premium and minimum wage pay and monies for unspecified damages.
Yanez, who has since moved out of state, says the caddies have been wrongly classified as independent contractors and are only being paid bag fees — golfers pay $80 per bag at the Morris club — plus any tips, a policy that his attorney Douglas Lipsky says violates state law.
An administrator at the Morris County Golf Club did not respond to a request for comment. An attorney representing the club is not yet listed in court documents. An attorney that represented the club in a prior filing was contacted but did not immediately respond.
Golf caddies’ rights have become a hot topic over the years in New Jersey. Earlier this year, Lipsky filed a suit on behalf of nearly 250 caddies at the Montclair Golf Club in West Orange, who have claimed similar violations of the law.
In January 2021, Gov. Phil Murphy vetoed, or failed to sign a measure that would have protected golf caddies’ employment status as independent contractors in New Jersey. An amended bill, sponsored by Sen. Jon Bramnick, was introduced in the New Jersey State Senate earlier this year but is awaiting review by the Senate Labor Committee.
How the caddie system works
The IRS urges businesses to abide by “common law rules” when determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor, but states that there is no “magic” set of factors that “makes” a worker one or the other. The key is to look at the entire relationship and consider the right to direct and control the worker as well…
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