Posts tagged freelance busting
Commentary: The 2026 Battle of Trenton
May 12, 2026 // Unfortunately, my camera failed to record video of my testimony, and there is no video from the state—only an audio recording of the hearing. But suffice it to say that, as usual, I found myself in a hearing room largely dominated by men, testifying before a panel of senators who are all male, as debate raged about policy that economic research shows is already having a disproportionate and negative impact on women.
Freelance Busting: ‘Absolute Stalemate’
February 20, 2026 // The nearly two-thirds of Americans who would prefer to be our own bosses need protection from this encroachment on our freedom to choose self-employment. So do the vast majority of us who are already independent contractors and wish to remain so. It’s beyond frustrating that the help we need may be a long time coming, especially at the federal level. Experts recently gathered to discuss the reality of the situation in Congress during an hourlong Federalist Society panel, where they minced no words about why the challenges in Washington, D.C., persist.
NJ Freelancer Advocate Kim Kavin Honored with I4AW’s Defender of Worker Freedom Award
December 19, 2025 // “Kim Kavin continues to publicize the struggles independent workers face against government overreach and bring real life context to how specific regulations would hinder their ability to prosper,” said I4AW President F. Vincent Vernuccio. Kavin is a lifelong writer and editor who started as a freelancer in 2003 after a decade in staff roles. In 2019, she co-founded the grassroots advocacy group Fight for Freelancers, where she organized and educated thousands of independent contractors.
I4AW Presents 2025 Defender of Worker Freedom Awards to Rep. Onder and Kim Kavin
December 15, 2025 // “Both Rep. Onder and Kim Kavin have used their unique positions to stand up for the American worker,” said I4AW President F. Vincent Vernuccio. “Rep. Onder has been a leader in Congress, keeping workers at the center of developing labor legislation. Kim Kavin continues to publicize the struggles independent workers face against government overreach and bring real life context to how specific regulations would hinder their ability to prosper.”
Commentary: Washington, We Have a Problem
December 27, 2024 // The problem is that the figure 11.9 million is significantly lower than figures the government has previously stated about the number of independent contractors in the United States. Those figures, in turn, have been significantly lower than figures we’ve all seen released year after year by numerous other researchers. Several experts were quick to point out that with this new data, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics may have accurately counted what the government set out to count—by asking questions in its own wonky way—but the result is absolutely going to confuse a lot of people.
Commentary: Plan B is Activated
November 19, 2024 // They are now turning to Plan B, which is sectoral organizing. And they notched a big win in the recent election with a ballot proposition in Massachusetts—a win that the mainstream media is heralding as a good thing. In fact, the same pro-union media bias that we saw with reclassification attempts such as Assembly Bill 5 and the PRO Act is simply resetting and restarting anew. Now, it’s being used to promote this other way of trying to limit self-employment.
A Battle for Standing
October 30, 2024 // Pacific Legal Foundation is representing four of us freelance writers and editors in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Labor over its independent contractor rule. All four of us plaintiffs are co-founders of Fight For Freelancers. On October 7, the District Court judge dismissed our case, saying we lacked standing to file the lawsuit. On October 23, our pro bono attorneys filed an appeal in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
COMMENTARY: These Punches Landed
October 24, 2024 // What you have is a task force that’s heavy on unionists. I understand why you want to help unions: Membership is at an all-time low, and Gallup says 80% of people either don’t want to join a union, or are at best neutral on the subject. But when you try to solve that union problem by destroying the livelihoods of independent contractors, all you do is come off as extremists.
The Highest Stakes Commentary: Kim Kavin
October 16, 2024 // In this version of the ABC Test, Part B states that a person can only be a legally operating independent contractor if: The person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business. That line has been an unmitigated income- and career-destroyer for Californians in more than 600 professions. It hit everyone from comedians who could no longer perform at comedy clubs to translators who could no longer provide translation services for translation companies to freelance writers who could no longer write articles for publishers. Owner-operator truckers are still battling in the courts and trying to explain how it could decimate the supply chain, with the threat of taking so many self-employed truckers off the road. The damage to people’s livelihoods was so significant that within a year—just one year—of AB5 going into effect:
Op-Ed: Painting the Targets
September 24, 2024 // I next went looking for data about union density—the percentage of employees in an industry who are union members—in New York and California. For New York City, Hofstra University’s Center for the Study of Labor and Democracy put together this report showing industries that have seen declines in union membership. About half of the industries line up with those listed on the independent-contractor complaint form: