While Biden Administration Pushes Back Independent Contractor Rule, Congress Considers Pro Act
The U.S. House is expected to vote the week of March 8 on H.R. 842, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. Prior to the vote, MSCI joined approximately 200 other organizations and the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW) to send a letter, available here, to federal lawmakers opposing the legislation. MSCI also joined the National Association of Manufacturers to weigh in with lawmakers against the PRO Act. (Click here to read that letter.)
This legislation would:
- Strip away workers’ free choice in union elections, and their privacy rights;
- Codify into law the National Labor Relations Board’s controversial Browning-Ferris Industries joint-employer standard that has threatened U.S. local small businesses;
- Curb opportunities for people to work independently through gig economy platforms or in more traditional independent contractor roles;
- Eliminate Right-to-Work protections for workers across the country;
- Interfere with attorney-client confidentiality and make it harder for businesses, particularly small businesses, to secure legal advice on complex labor law matters;
- Prohibit arbitration agreements in employment contracts;
- Infringe on the due process rights of employers; and
- Strip away “secondary boycott” protections that prevent unions from using their anti-trust exemptions and immunity from certain state laws to target businesses for anti-competitive purposes other than organizing.
Click here to learn more about the legislation.
The CDW, which MSCI is a member of, also has set up a grassroots toolkit to use to help educate policymakers about the bill. The toolkit includes a fact sheet on the bill, video explaining provisions of the legislation, provision summary, and sample letter to can send to Congress.
There are several ways other MSCI members can make their voices heard by lawmakers regarding this legislation:
- Click here to use the National Association of Wholesalers’ portal to contact U.S. representatives and senators.
- Click here to use the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s portal to contact federal lawmakers.
Each of these links takes just a few minutes to complete.
In related news: the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced that it has delayed the effective date of a regulation written by the Trump administration that would create a new independent contractor classification test. The rule will now take effect on May 7, 2021, as opposed to March 8, 2021. The delay leaves open the possibility that the Biden administration could issue a different regulation. As proposed by the Trump administration, the classification test would consider five factors to determine whether a worker is an employee or a contractor.
Click here for the Connecting the Dots story outlining those steps and click here to read more from the Society for Human Resource Management about what to expect next from the Biden administration on this matter.