Posts tagged Independent Contractor
California Independent Contractor Law Faces Withering Attacks
June 16, 2023 //
Foxx: The NLRB and Big Labor Are Unabashed Bedfellows
June 14, 2023 //
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.
OPINION: Sen. Sinema Shouldn’t Let Julie Su Turn Ariz. Into Calif.
June 5, 2023 // More than one million freelance workers lost work in the wake of AB5’s passage. In response to public outrage, the California legislature carved out scores of politically connected professions from the draconian legislation so that it no longer applied to musicians, translators, writers, photographers, and many others. But big labor’s main targets – independent truckers and the gig economy – are still suffering from AB5’s harsh policy. Even the notoriously left-leaning Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has suggested that AB5’s sponsors and enforcers may have had no legitimate policy objectives in mind when granting exemptions to AB5, and instead acted out of "animus" by targeting companies that facilitate vast swaths of independent contracting.
Are Unionized Gig Workers The Future Of Work?
June 2, 2023 // Additionally, some unions—because of a lack of resources—aren’t able to take the most direct approach to helping gig workers. “Unfortunately, right now there are some unions that have taken a ‘strategic’ approach of trying to work with the companies and become their labor partners,” says Dryburgh. “In May 2021, they tried getting a law passed in NYC that would provide Independent Drivers Guild and Transport Workers Unions fees for representing workers that would come from fares and delivery fees. The problem with these laws is that while they provide immediate benefits to workers, they create these carveouts that prevent app-based workers from being classified as employees. These kinds of deals can have irreparable consequences for the rest of the labor movement. If the new standard of whether you are an employee depends if you get your job through an app, all W2 employees are in trouble.”
Op-ed: GROVER NORQUIST: Biden’s Radical Labor Nominee Wants To Raise Your Taxes
May 22, 2023 // As California Labor Secretary, Su was tasked with overseeing the distribution of tens of billions of dollars in unemployment insurance payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the process, Su stripped the program of commonsense safeguards and wasted up to a staggering $31 billion on fraudulent payments. That’s about $1300 per income tax filer in the state. To further contextualize the unprecedented scale of this failure, the entire FY2024 budget request for the U.S. Department of Labor was $15.1 billion. Julie Su squandered more than twice this amount of taxpayer money on fraud in a single program in a single state. Americans should rightfully worry about the impact on their own pocketbooks if Su is given an undeserved promotion to oversee operations in all fifty states.
Independent workforce climbs as U.S. women leave traditional jobs
May 17, 2023 // The independent professionals in the report are defined as not employing others and working in the following industries: • Professional services, such as legal, accounting and marketing • Skilled technical services, including architecture and computers • Creative services, such as artists and video producers Here's a breakdown of independent professionals and their typical revenue in 2022, based on the study's survey: • Professional, 3.4 million people, with average earnings per hour of $103 • Technical, 1.9 million people, with average earnings per hour of $90 • Creative, 1.4 million people, with average earnings per hour of $71 Despite mounting concerns over the economy, most independent professionals feel financially secure, according to the survey. More than eight in 10 reckon that having multiple sources of income provides a greater level of security than relying on a single employer.
Businesses Cry Foul on DOL Messaging for Trump Gig Worker Rule
May 8, 2023 // “My discussions with DOL investigators and the solicitor’s office out of Atlanta was exactly the same before the Trump regulations and after the Trump regulations,” McCutchen said. In her interactions with the agency, WHD investigators mentioned and recognized the agency was bound by the Trump rule, but didn’t follow the structure of the Trump test when analyzing whether one of her clients was a contractor or an employee, she said. “They didn’t say, ‘Let’s look at the two core factors,’” she explained, “or, ‘Now we’re going to look at the three additional factors,’ which is the structure of the Trump regulations. They didn’t do that.” The Trump rule has been in place for over two years, and given how it diverged from the Obama-era approach to worker classification, the department should be reaching out to field officers and offering training and guidance, said Michael Lotito, co-chair of Littler Mendelson PC’s Workplace Policy Institute. Simply acknowledging the rule isn’t enough, he added.
Su Squeaks Past Committee on Party Line Vote
April 27, 2023 // According to the California State Auditor, “(D)espite repeated warnings, EDD (under Su) did not bolster its fraud detection efforts until months into the pandemic…(including allowing) claimants to collect benefits even though they were using suspicious addresses—in one case, more than 1,700 claims were coming from a single address.” As to the rate of fraud, California actually realized a rate of about 22% and, while having only about 12% of the nation’s workers, processed 21% of all unemployment claims which, one would assume, should have been seen as a red flag to the EDD.
Senate panel advances Biden Labor nominee Julie Su
April 26, 2023 // “Today’s party-line vote is another reminder that Julie Su is no Marty Walsh, who advanced in a bipartisan 18-4 vote only two years ago,” said Michael Layman, a top lobbyist at the International Franchise Association, in a statement following Wednesday’s vote. The AFL-CIO is fighting back, running ads in Arizona and D.C. backing Su’s efforts to counter wage theft in California. The ads tell viewers that workers are “tired of getting ripped off by big corporations.” The labor federation is also mobilizing its members to lobby senators. “We’re going to defend Julie against these baseless corporate special interests attacks,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler told reporters last week. “Every senator, especially those that haven’t yet said that they’ll vote yes, needs to be aware of how much this confirmation means to working people’s lives.”