On March 11, 2025, Nebraska passed a marketplace network platform statute that deems workers who use a marketplace network platform independent contractors under the state unemployment statute if certain conditions are met. The law goes into effect September 9, 2025.

Nebraska defines “marketplace network platform” as “a person that maintains a digital network to facilitate services by marketplace network contractors to individuals or entities seeking those services and accepts requests from the public only through the platform's digital network or mobile application, and not by telephone, facsimile, or in-person at a retail location.”

With certain exceptions for government and non-profit workers, a “marketplace network contractor” is a person who: 1) enters into a written agreement with a marketplace network platform to use the platform to connect with individuals or entities seeking services; 2) performs services for individuals or entities in exchange for compensation or payment; and 3) does not perform services at a physical business location operated by the marketplace network platform in Nebraska.

The Nebraska law makes “service by a marketplace contractor” not “employment” for unemployment purposes if the following four requirements are met:

1. The marketplace network contractor and marketplace network platform agree in writing that the marketplace network contractor is an independent contractor and not an employee of the marketplace network platform;
2. The marketplace network platform does not unilaterally prescribe specific hours during which the marketplace network contractor must be available to accept service requests submitted through the marketplace network platform's digital network;
3. The marketplace network platform does not prohibit the marketplace network contractor from engaging in outside employment or performing services through other marketplace network platforms except while the marketplace network contractor is performing services through the marketplace network platform's digital network; and
4. The marketplace network platform is not allowed to terminate the contract of the marketplace network contractor for not accepting a specific service request.

If these conditions are met, the workers will be considered independent contractors and not employees of the marketplace network platform.  This is significant because other employers are subject to Nebraska’s relatively stringent “ABC test” for unemployment purposes. Those employers face the harder task of showing the following about those they work with:

1. Such individual has been and will continue to be free from control or direction over the performance of such services, both under his or her contract of service and in fact,
2. Such service is either outside the usual course of the business for which such service is performed or such service is performed outside of all the places of business of the enterprise for which such service is performed, and
3. Such individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession, or business.

Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-604(5).

Nebraska is the tenth state to pass a marketplace platform statute joining Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Texas, Tennessee, and Utah. Not all marketplace statutes are the same though – they vary in what requirements must be met, which laws fall under their scope (i.e., all state employment laws or only unemployment), and whether they are limited to a specific type of industry or service.  There are also exceptions to which workers and platforms these statutes apply, so employers should consult with employment counsel to see whether their company can avail itself of these laws.

With states varying widely in their respective independent contractor tests and states having multiple independent contractor tests for different purposes, marketplace platform statutes provide increased protections to online platforms that connect workers with work opportunities against misclassification claims, particularly in states like Nebraska that have an ABC test.