Posts tagged Congressional Review Act
Opinion: This Looming Regulatory Change Is Endangering Your Entrepreneurial Livelihood. Here’s What You Can Do About It.
March 7, 2024 // On the independent contractor language, the U.S. Department of Labor acknowledges in its new rule that there may be "conceptual overlap" with the ABC Test's most harmful section to independent contractors. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says the "DOL's claim that the regulation does not reflect the ABC Test leaves something to be desired." The independent contractor CRA was introduced in the House and Senate in early March with more than 70 co-sponsors and needs more in both chambers to advance. Federal lawsuits have been filed against both federal agencies, trying to stop these policy changes through the courts. But, given the snail's pace with which the wheels of justice can turn, it's important for Congress to act.
Opinion: Biden rule threatens to throw independent contracting into disarray
March 6, 2024 // For example, the U.S. Postal Service uses 7,900 contracted delivery services to reach about 3 million of its delivery points. The plainclothes carrier who delivers mail via her personal vehicle to my home in Shenandoah, Va., is presumably one of these contract drivers. Under the Biden administration’s new rule, she and potentially thousands of individuals like her would almost certainly be considered employees. That is because the work these contractors perform is “integral” to the Postal Service; the Postal Service exercises a high degree of direct and indirect control over these individuals by mandating where and when the work must be done, and the delivery contractors are not exercising significant “skill” or “initiative.”
Ranking Member Cassidy, Kiley Introduce CRA to Overturn New Biden Regulation Threatening 27 Million American Independent Contractors
March 6, 2024 // Independent contractors, or freelancers, make their own hours to fit their schedule and decide where and how they want to work. The Biden administration rule attempts to restrict the ability of American workers to be an independent contractor and take advantage of the flexibility it provides. The rule creates a non-exhaustive, six-factor litmus test for unelected bureaucrats to interpret and decide who is and who is not classified as an independent contractor. It also casts as large a net as possible and gives less legal certainty to independent contractors impacted by the regulation. “The Biden administration’s priority should not be to do whatever makes it easier to forcibly and coercively unionize workers. It should be to increase individual freedom and opportunity,” said Dr. Cassidy. “This new Biden rule does the opposite, jeopardizing 27 million workers’ ability to make their own hours and make a living without being pressured into joining a union.”
Kiley, Cassidy Introduce CRA to Overturn New Biden Regulation Threatening 27 Million American Independent Contractors
March 6, 2024 // “Independent contractors, entrepreneurs, and small businesses are fed up with the Department of Labor continually breathing down their necks,” said Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. “The bicameral Congressional Review Act resolution led by Representative Kiley and Senator Cassidy offers Congress the opportunity to take a unified stand against the Department’s thirst for more government control over America’s workforce. Entrepreneurial opportunities and flexibility should be encouraged, not extinguished with heavy-handed mandates from the federal government.” “Gavin Newsom and Julie Su’s AB 5 severely restricted independent contracting in California, destroying thousands of livelihoods and harming California’s economy. As Acting Secretary of Labor, Su and the Biden Administration have announced a new Department of Labor rule, modeled after on the same job-killing AB 5 that will cost millions of independent professionals across the country their livelihoods while restricting the freedom of many millions more to have flexible work arrangements. Our legislation under the Congressional Review Act nullifies this terrible regulation and protects independent contractors,” said Representative Kiley. “Washington should support workers, not regulate them into oblivion.”
House Committee Grills Labor Chief Over Independent Contractor Crackdown
February 22, 2024 // Chair Kiley called upon the committee members to address Looman with their questions or comments. Administrator Loomis could not, or did not, choose to answer many of the questions asked such as Chair Kiley’s questions about different occupations (real estate brokers, truckers, journalists) who would be classified as an independent contractor under the new rule. Looman not only appeared to be unfamiliar with the language within the 339 pages of the rule but also was unaware (or pretended to be) that the rule is written in such a way that classifying any profession as anything other than an employee is next to impossible.
Op-ed: Watch out — California’s damaging gig workers law is going nationwide
February 20, 2024 // The rule is slated to take effect on March 10. U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) have both declared they will use the Congressional Review Act to have this rule rescinded. Previous legislation has been tendered in support of small businesses and the self-employed. The “Fight for Freelancers” group of female writers and editors has filed a lawsuit challenging this rule, which serves to appease Big Labor in the same manner as AB5.
A Lawsuit Seeks to Stop the National Destruction of Trucking Through the DOL Indep. Contractor Rule
February 14, 2024 // The U.S. DOL is using bureaucratic means to make an end-run around already failed legislation (see The PRO Act) in order to destroy independent professionals and small businesses across the nation. The Rule embeds the same tenets found in the ABC Test, which supports AB5, and we all know how well that went in California. The state's trucking industry, in particular, continues to fight hard against AB5, and their battle is being watched by the rest of the industry in other states. Now, a Louisiana business has filed a lawsuit to stop the rule, which is scheduled to take effect on March 11.
Labor Department Sued Over New Rule That Stands To Impact Independent Contractors in Promo
February 7, 2024 // “While the Labor Department believes the new rule will merely result in the independent contractor becoming an employee, insignificant consideration is given to the other alternative: Namely, that the employer could opt to end the position,” attorney Chuck Machion, senior vice president and senior counsel at ASI, has said.
Commentary: Why we just sued the US Department of Labor
February 6, 2024 // As one of us testified before Congress last year, the Biden administration remains relentless. It’s now attempting a regulatory workaround with the Department of Labor’s independent contractor rule, which, in a cruel twist, was released just days before Mercatus Center research showed that the protesting independent contractors have been right all along. Mercatus found that the California approach not only failed to create unionizable jobs, but actually decreased overall employment by 4.4 percent and self-employment by 10 percent. Mercatus also noted that this happened despite California ultimately exempting more than 100 professions. The new Labor rule exempts none. The department acknowledges there may be “conceptual overlap” with the California law’s most harmful language. We agree. What’s worse is that the Labor rule is so vague, it’s impossible for anyone to know how to operate legally with independent contractors. The Biden administration sees this as a feature, not a bug.
Biden Takes a Destructive California Idea National
February 4, 2024 // The Biden administration appears undeterred by the lessons of recent history. The California law unleashed chaos in the state’s politics and courts. Politicians delegated to union leaders the power to hand out exemptions to politically favored groups. Lawyers, doctors, psychologists, dentists, podiatrists — almost anybody with an advanced degree was exempt. When newspapers editorialized against the new law — noting that they rely on freelance photographers, reporters, editors, designers, and delivery people — they, too, were excluded from the new regulations. Suddenly free from the dead hand of state regulators, the newspapers turned as one and editorialized in favor of the new law. A federal judge said the process was shot through with “corruption,” “backroom dealing,” “pure spite,” and “naked favoritism.” But more important, A.B. 5 crushed tens of thousands of California business owners — those who operate as independent contractors as well as those who employ or otherwise rely on them. Now Biden and Su plan to bring the crazy to every American state.