Ron Busby, president and CEO of the U.S. Black Chambers, writes in New Jersey’s Asbury Park Press: “There’s an ill-conceived notion that reclassifying these independent contractors/gig workers as employees is good for workers and for small businesses. It is not, as the good people in the great state of California demonstrated when they rejected reclassification efforts there.” … Read more …
Press and Releases
Stop Drafting Independent Contractor Legislation without Giving Independent Contractors a Seat at the Table
As reported by Law360: “The position in the Biden plan on independent contractors is not only confusing but also seems to have ignored the position of one of the key stakeholders: the freelancers themselves. Seeking to change the test in order to curtail independent contractor relationships and instead promote the employment of freelancers appears to be out of touch with the overwhelming preference of those service providers.” … Read more …
California’s Prop 22 Victory is a Stinging rebuke of AB5, which tried to force companies using independent contractors to reclassify them as employees
As reported by NBC News THINK: “The passage of Prop 22 teaches us that if lawmakers won’t listen to the valid concerns of independent contractors the easy way, by giving us an equal seat at the table and crafting reasonable legislation that protects us along with traditional employees, they will be forced to listen the hard way, as laws like AB5 are publicly gutted at the ballot box.” … Read more …
What Uber, Lyft Prop 22 win could mean for the future of all freelance work
As reported by CNBC, “The overriding message that Prop 22 sends is that one-size-fits-all legislation which lumps all freelance professions together doesn’t work and won’t be popular with voters.” … Read more …
Public Comment on Proposed U.S. Labor Department Rule for Independent Contractors
Today, Fight For Freelancers USA submitted this public comment with regard to the U.S. Labor Department’s proposed rule for defining independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act. We are grateful that USDOL is working to help us maintain our status as independent contractors.
US Senate Minority Leader Acknowledges Major Problem in PRO Act
US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) promised freelancers in an online webinar late last week that he would listen to their concerns and work with them to find a solution for the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO Act (H.R. 2474), marking the first time a prominent elected Democrat has acknowledged a major problem with the bill. … READ MORE …
Many Freelancers Would Rather Quit Than Become Regular Employees
As reported in The Wall Street Journal, “Exporting California’s [AB5] approach nationwide would jeopardize creative business models that have provided so much to so many. We cannot assume that a 20th-century model still fits workers in the 21st century.” READ MORE …
Freelancers Nationwide Are Already Getting Caught in the ABC Test Net
As reported in Contently, “with national ABC Test legislation in Congress and public awareness rising, more freelancers report being turned away from work because they pose a legal liability to the publisher.” READ MORE …
Civil rights leader calls California’s AB5 Law, which the PRO Act would make federal, outright “racist”
Several newspapers nationwide published this op-ed by longtime civil rights leader Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. calling California’s AB5—which would become federal law under the PRO Act—“racist,” “regressive” and “unconstitutional.” READ MORE …
