Posts tagged Freelancers
Opinion: Your freelance job is in jeopardy (Radio)
April 18, 2024 // The DOL issued a rule creating a very strict and confusing definition of a 1099 worker which will certainly have a chilling effect on the entrepreneurial environment and the opportunities available to freelancers. A similar bill was passed in California (AB5) and it devastated small businesses and freelancers. Pacific Legal Foundation is now representing Kim and other plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the DOL. I want to thank Congressman Tom Kean Jr. for sponsoring action on behalf of the New Jersey delegation to push back against this intrusive and egregious assault on independent contractors.
Commentary: JOHN STOSSEL: Unions Wanted To Help Freelance Workers. Now They Lost Their Jobs
April 17, 2024 // Vox called the law “a big win for workers everywhere.” Ha! A few months later, Vox media layed off hundreds of freelancers. “They expected that all these companies were going to reclassify independent contractors as employees,” freelance musician Ari Herstand told me. “In reality, they’re just letting them go!” Herstand was dismayed to learn that when he wants other musicians to join him, he could no longer just write them a check. “I have to put that drummer on payroll, W2 him, get workers’ comp insurance, unemployment insurance, payroll taxes!” he complains. “I have to hire a payroll company.”
What the Biden Administration Could Learn From California’s Attempt To Ban Independent Contracting
April 8, 2024 // In other words, the president promised to replicate AB 5 nationally but has failed. I can only surmise that the Los Angeles Times doesn't pay much attention to California news, either. As noted above, AB 5 isn't the victim of Congress or industry—but of massive, angry blowback from California freelancers, many of them Democrats—in multiple professions who didn't appreciate losing their jobs. The story focused on San Francisco's settlement with a company that connects workers with hospitality industry jobs, so AB 5 is still wreaking havoc. The most aggravating part of the Times article cites a study from the pro-union Economic Policy Institute, which finds "blue-collar workers classified as contractors are losing out on as much as $16,700 a year compared with what they would have made as regular employees." Perhaps it should show how much money these workers are losing when companies axe their jobs because of the AB 5-style mandates. When it comes to economics, union think tanks, reporters, and the Biden administration are as clever as those proverbial worms.
Why the PRO Act is Not Pro-Worker
March 28, 2024 // As the Institute for the American Worker has explained, policies in the PRO Act ultimately restrict worker freedom and choice. Similar overreaching federal policies continue to experience significant pushback and delays, and this provides a reminder for states to check if they are promoting or inhibiting worker freedom. State leaders should examine the model policies listed above and those included in the Labor Reform Policy: 50 State Factsheets, to guarantee that they are protecting the rights and freedoms of their workers.
Isabel Soto: Biden’s war on freelancing affects the American dream
March 26, 2024 // The left’s war against self-employment is not a reform. It is paternalism: disconnected elites telling 70 million of happy, hurried Americans who don’t know what’s good for them. (It’s also cronyism, since the war on freelancing is fundamentally a project of the big unions, who hate competition.) And as always, when the government targets the proverbial “needy,” the real needy in our economy—women, minorities, and low-income communities—feel the pain. Half of Latinos are self-employed, 40% of African Americans, half of young workers, and more than half of low-income workers. An analysis by The LIBRE Initiative found that until 26% of independent workers are Hispanic and 14% of independent workers are black
Commentary: ATR Applauds House Education & Workforce Committee for Defending Independent Contractors
March 22, 2024 // “Independent contractors want to be their own boss. But Biden and the Democrats want to force them to HAVE a boss,” said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform. Americans for Tax Reform applauds the House Education & Workforce Committee majority for passing Congressman Kiley’s resolution to nullify the Biden DOL’s harmful reclassification of independent contractors.
Commentary: Melissa Melendez And Kevin Kiley: Learn From California’s Disastrous Contractor Rule
March 18, 2024 // According to a brand new study from the Mercatus Center, self-employment in affected industries has declined by a stunning 10.5% in California. Proponents had argued that these workers would simply be “reclassified” as full-time employees, but for many, that has not been the case. The same study found an overall 4.4% decline in employment in the industries that didn’t manage to get an exemption. Amidst these disastrous results, it is still unclear who has actually been helped by the new regime.
Op-ed: Congress tries to destroy working women’s flexibility
March 12, 2024 // Flexibility is valued by all workers, but more so for women. Women are more likely than men to prioritize hours and job location. A clear gender gap exists between men and women over compensation preferences: Women are flexibility maximizers, and men are pay maximizers. For millions of women, a W-2 job, even if hybrid or fully remote, cannot provide the level of flexibility they need to balance priorities such as raising children, managing a disability or illness, or caring for an aging parent. Consequently, over half of the nation’s 70 million-plus freelancers are women.
Texas judge vacates joint employer rule
March 9, 2024 // Judge J. Campbell Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated the National Labor Relations Board’s joint employer rule late Friday. The rule was set to go into effect Monday. The new rule would be “contrary to law” and “arbitrary and capricious,” Barker ruled. The court had been considering a legal challenge brought in November by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with other business groups.
New Law Redefines Employees and Contractors
March 7, 2024 // Data suggest worker misclassification may be the exception rather than the rule in many industries. Surveys consistently show that most independent contractors prefer their independence. Around 79% of them prefer their arrangement over a traditional job, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, while fewer than one in 10 contractors want a traditional work arrangement. "Since a lot of older Americans do seek out these flexible forms of work as they near retirement — or after — this rule will likely lead to reduced work opportunities for them." Implemented in 2020 when acting U.S. Labor Secretary Su was California's labor commissioner, California's Assembly Bill 5, or AB5, similarly set out to protect workers by getting more people on the payrolls. But many Californians working as legitimate contractors suddenly lost income after businesses and nonprofits stopped working with them as freelancers and didn't hire them as employees.