Posts tagged Independent Contractor Rule
Freelancers defend economic liberty from vague DOL rule
January 25, 2024 // Kim Kavin is a freelance writer and editor from New Jersey. Kim writes and edits content for magazines, newspapers, and corporate brands and has authored multiple books. She is a past president of the professional association Boating Writers International, whose membership includes many freelance writers. Kim, along with Jen Singer and Deborah Abrams Kaplan, also from New Jersey, and Karon Warren, based in Georgia, founded an online group called Fight For Freelancers to contest policies like AB5 and the Department of Labor’s rule that seek to make it more difficult for them to work as independent contractors. Their livelihoods depend on them being able to work as freelancers, and they want to be able to keep the mutually beneficial business relationships they have with their clients. Represented free of charge by Pacific Legal Foundation, Fight For Freelancers, Kim, Jen, Deborah and Karon are asking a federal court to restore their right to earn an honest living without interference by the DOL’s illegally vague independent contractor rule.
Op-Ed: Labor Department stuck in 1930s with rule against independent contractors
January 23, 2024 // With a national rule, however, few of those escape options are possible. Freelancers are unlikely to flee the country, and there is no such thing as a national ballot measure. The department has only just finalized the rule, so revisions are unlikely unless there is a change in control of the executive or legislature this November. Independent contractors face an extremely uncertain future. The reason why the rule is likely to be such a problem is because it is based on a vision of what the workplace should look like from a century ago, when large corporations dominated. Large corporations made sense when it was harder to be nimble as a business. Nobel Prize winner Ronald Coase explained the reason we have corporations at all is because of the presence of what are called transaction costs. If I have a business idea that requires the services of someone else, I face those costs. If the business idea requires someone with advanced mathematical calculation skills I don’t have, I can either contract with someone who has those skills to do the work every time I need it, or I can hire them as an employee instead and have them always available.
New Research Quantifies Harms To Independent Contractors Of California’s AB5
January 23, 2024 // Despite AB5 proponents’ claims that the law would increase full-time employment and offer benefits and protections, the researchers found “robust evidence that AB5 is significantly associated with a decline in self-employment and a decline in overall employment.” · AB5 reduced the level of self-employment by 6.7 percentage points to 28%. · AB5 reduced the level of overall employment by 7.3 percentage points to 14%. · The researchers did not find significant evidence that AB5 increased W-2 employment.
Commentary: Kevin Kiley: American Dream in danger
January 22, 2024 // AB 5 offers a warning to the nation. It is one reason California has ranked first or second in the country when it comes to unemployment and poverty, and last in the country in wage growth. Congress must reject the nationalization of AB 5 and protect the diverse range of work arrangements that contribute to the American economy. We must oppose the ongoing attacks on worker freedom and ensure that worker preferences and autonomy are accounted for in all policy decisions. More than ever, we must support the right of enterprising Americans to pursue their calling as they see fit. To that end, I am introducing legislation to nullify Biden’s Independent Contractor rule, and urge all Members of Congress to support it.
Opinion: Biden adds to his ‘Bidenomics’ flop: This new rule throws wrench in popular gig economy.
January 22, 2024 // Biden promised to be the “most pro-union president you’ve ever seen,” so he needs to reward all those campaign donations. And Biden’s doing it regardless of the impact on the economy. Independent contractors cannot be unionized, so the more companies lean on these workers, the less ability unions have to organize. It’s really that simple. The Biden administration is trying to sell its new rule as a way to protect workers and make it easier for them to qualify for benefits such as overtime pay and paid time off.
New Study on California AB5 and Implications for the Department of Labor’s Independent Contractor Rule
January 18, 2024 // 1. First, employers may have hired some, but not most, independent contractors as employees, while other employers may have stopped working with their contractors based in California altogether. 2. Second, some employers may have extended employment opportunities to independent contractors who then declined such offers. Workers with a strong preference for flexible hours or for working with multiple clients, for instance, may not have wanted to work as traditional employees with one company. 3. Third, some small business owners may have been forced to shut down if they relied heavily on independent contractors and could not afford to hire them as employees or stopped working with independent contractors because of fear of compliance. This was highlighted by interviews of small business owners in the wake of AB5.
GOP Reps: Biden’s New Rule Rips Freedom Away from Workers, Small Businesses | Opinion
January 17, 2024 // Biden's rule on independent contractors circumvents Congress, the people's representation, to enact a disastrous policy similar to that in California's Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) and the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. AB5, enacted in January 2020, led to countless Californians who were working as freelance employees losing their income mere weeks before the COVID pandemic. The radical PRO Act would take away independent contractors' ability to work how they see fit. Taking these failed far-Left policies nationwide would devastate millions of American businesses by depriving individuals of entrepreneurial opportunities, the ability to set their own hours, and the flexibility to care for their families the way it suits them.
Biden’s ‘American dream’ nominee would unleash a nightmare
June 20, 2023 // As mothers, caregivers, trauma survivors, and entrepreneurs, women seek nontraditional, flexible work for many reasons. They overwhelmingly choose to pursue independent contracting for greater flexibility ; more control over their schedule, work location, and financial future; and better work-life balance over traditional jobs. Su lacks direct experience running a small business. Leaning on her parents’ or extended family’s small business experience is not enough. Leading the Labor Department would place critical management responsibilities, plus regulatory authority over businesses of all sizes, in her hands. Her record in California exposed other severe leadership weaknesses .
Commentary: Economic Freedom Is Under Assault In Washington
June 13, 2023 // The DOL’s proposed rule change is yet another economically regressive measure that imposes greater barriers on professionals and consumers alike. Lawmakers that stand on the side of personal freedom, economic independence, and the entrepreneurism that drives economic growth must challenge the Administration on this disastrous approach. Stopping this rule change in its tracks would protect the millions of independent contractors that choose freedom, flexibility, and autonomy, as well as the millions more Americans in dire need of their services.
Sens. Braun, Burr, Thune, and Rep. Foxx Lead Republican Colleagues in Urging Department of Labor to Protect Independent Contractor Classification
December 19, 2022 // Senators Braun, Burr and Thune are leading a bicameral letter with Rep. Foxx (R-N.C.) urging the Department of Labor (DOL) not to move forward with its proposed rule for determining independent contractor classification due to the negative impact on workers and business, the test’s lack of clarity and the devastating consequences for the U.S. economy. They are joined by Sens. Hagerty, Romney, T. Scott, Cramer, Johnson, Barrasso, Cassidy, Lankford, Marshall, Hoeven, Blackburn, Boozman, Tuberville, Young, Lummis, Lee, R. Scott, Inhofe, Graham, Fischer, Ernst, Shelby, and Rounds as well as Reps. Wilson, Thompson, Walberg, Grothman, Stefanik, Allen, Banks, Comer, Fulcher, Keller, Miller-Meeks, Owens, Good, McClain, Harshbarger, Miller, Spartz, Fitzgerald, Steel, and Pete Sessions.