Posts tagged entrepreneurs
Congress Can Empower Workers Through Choice—Not Coercion
November 24, 2025 // A case in point is the legislative package that Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) introduced on Nov. 10, joined by others including Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C). They’d protect workers’ paychecks by requiring unions to get approval before spending dues money on politics. They’d also protect workers’ privacy by letting them choose what contact information unions get during the organizing process. And they’d protect workplace democracy by requiring that at least two-thirds of workers participate in union elections — preventing a minority of people from determining the fate of every employee. Another praiseworthy reform is the Employee Rights Act, which Scott introduced in the shutdown’s early days after Rep. Rick Allen (R-Ga.) previously introduced it in the House. Among its many good ideas, the Employee Rights Act guarantees the secret ballot and protects workers from intimidation and harassment. It also gives unionized workers in the 26 right-to-work states the freedom to negotiate their own contract with their employer, so they can better address their individual needs. And the Employee Rights Act guarantees that self-employed workers have maximum flexibility to design their jobs to fit their lives.
Newt’s World Episode 899: Employee Rights Act
October 13, 2025 // Newt talks with Vincent Vernuccio, President of the Institute for the American Worker about the Employee Rights Act of 2025, a legislative proposal aimed at enhancing and safeguarding the rights of American workers while promoting fairness and accountability in the workplace. Introduced by Senator Tim Scott and Congressman Rick Allen, the bill represents a Republican vision for the workforce, focusing on empowering workers, improving unions, and fostering innovation and growth. Vernuccio highlights the outdated nature of current labor laws,
Proposed NJ regulations would impact up to 1.7 million self-employed workers
August 5, 2025 // Director of Independent Women’s Center for Economic Opportunity Patrice Onwuka told The Center Square that “New Jersey is proposing to alter its employment test that determines whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor.” Onwuka said that “instead of greater clarity, simplicity, and certainty, the NJ Department of Labor is introducing new uncertainty, confusion, and complexity” with this ABC test. The ABC test would go from three one-sentence factors that must be met to prove independent contractor status to three factors each burdened by numerous sub-factors or, as shown in an Independent Women news release.
New Jersey Copycats California’s Job-Destroying Policy
June 3, 2025 // This proposal comes five years after the New Jersey legislature attempted and failed to codify the ABC test. A controversial bill in 2019–the same year that California passed AB5——failed to pass after loud public outcry from industries and independent contractors themselves. What policymakers could not enact through the law, they’re now seeking to advance through regulation.
Liya Palagashvili: The Portable Benefits Revolution: How Did We Get Here?
May 1, 2025 // Senator Bill Cassidy just put flexible benefits on the map. This is the story of how a niche policy idea climbed to the top of the Congressional agenda.
MICHIGAN: While you were sleeping, the law changed
March 12, 2025 // The two laws were scheduled to take effect Feb. 21. The Legislature acted minutes (not hours) before the deadline and delivered the bills to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the middle of the night. Employers went to sleep on Feb. 20, woke up to a new regulatory environment, and are scrambling to understand the laws. How did we get here? In 2018, out-of-state advocacy groups sent two ballot measures to the Legislature. One measure imposed paid sick time mandates on every employer in the state — every company, nonprofit and government entity. The other measure mandated minimum wage increases, eviscerating the tip credit that helps restaurant servers and bartenders earn well above minimum wage.
Opinion: Political Vendettas Put Small Business in the Crossfire
August 17, 2024 // Senator Bernie Sanders’ recently released Amazon Investigation Interim Report is an example of such an effort that put America’s small business community in the crossfire. I can't help but think that the report was created to serve a personal agenda against the nation’s largest online marketplace. It relied on outdated data to draw misleading conclusions that Amazon is a uniquely dangerous workplace and sets an inappropriate and extreme precedent rife with questionable methodology and bias. Read Newsmax: Political Vendettas Put Small Business in the Crossfire | Newsmax.com Important: Find Your Real Retirement Date in Minutes! More Info Here
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.”
Biden’s new rule on independent contractors wages war on workers, women and entrepreneurs
February 26, 2024 // In the past year alone, 64 million Americans freelanced, half of whom were women. Women choose independent contractor status because of the flexibility it affords them, a particularly important factor for those raising children or aiding in caring for parents or other family members. Ninety-two percent of female workers prioritize flexibility over stability when it comes to their careers. Flexibility in the workplace is no longer a commodity, it is a necessity.