On Monday, U.S Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) introduced legislation to regulate the gig worker economy.
Her legislation, the Gig is Up Act, would require companies with at least $100 million in revenues and that employ at least 10,000 independent contractors, to pay both the employer’s and the employee’s payroll tax contributions to Social Security and Medicare. Under the current system, the worker must pay for both.
Watson Coleman said the legislation would create an incentive for large companies to accurately classify gig workers (or independent contractors) as employees.
“These people work hard. They generate millions of dollars in value for large tech companies, but they’ve been denied the basic benefits afforded to traditional employees,” Watson Coleman said. “Wealthy corporations have abused the system and these workers, who often struggle to support their families. ‘Honest work for fair pay.’ That’s the deal. This legislation ensures corporations hold up their end of the bargain.”
The legislation is supported by U.S. Reps. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), André Carson (D-IN), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Jahana Hayes (D-CT), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Summer Lee (D-PA), Delia Ramirez (D-IL), and Robert Menendez, Jr. (D-NJ).
It is supported by Social Security Works, Transport Workers Union of America, Communication Workers of America, American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, People’s Action, National Employment Law Project, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, National Jobs for All Network, Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
“Big companies like Uber and Lyft keep profits to themselves by misclassifying their workers, shirking all responsibility for benefits and decent wages in favor of precarious gig work,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said. “This is a targeted and malicious practice that leaves workers shouldering what should be a large corporation’s obligation to contribute their share of payroll taxes to Social Security and Medicare. The Gig Is Up Act confronts this injustice by pushing these companies to treat their workers as employees, with all the rights and respect that affords them. American families can’t build a decent life by cobbling together gig work — it’s time for big employers to pay their fair share.”