Recent News
As lawmakers consider the newest version of the PRO Act, many independent contractors are finding themselves increasingly worried that Congress could jeopardize the businesses and livelihoods they’ve worked so hard to build. The bill would, among other things, practically eliminate freelancing and push workers into traditional employment arrangements under the National Labor Relations Act. To […]
Roger Baumgarten of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, became a freelance photographer in 2009 when he founded Roger That Photography, a company whose clients have included the American Lung Association, Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania, and the National Federation of Independent Business. Business has been good for Baumgarten. He enjoys the flexibility of independent contracting and the freedom to choose his own clients. The […]
Lawmakers reintroduced the PRO Act late last week, this time to a Congress and president more receptive to the bill than in years prior. This bill would be a disaster for America’s workforce, which is why it should be rejected again. The PRO Act would, among other things, potentially eliminate independent contracting for millions of workers, and reclassify those workers as traditional employees under the National Labor Relations Act. Proponents claim that reclassifying independent […]
Independent contracting has given Paige Cerulli of Plainfield, Massachusetts, the opportunity to choose her own hours and contracts that suit her health needs, purchase her own home, write a novel and poetry in her free time, and make more money than she ever did as a full-time employee. Put simply, she is doing well for herself as a freelance writer. But some in Congress want to solve that “problem.” Under the PRO Act, lawmakers are attempting to classify many independent contractors as employees under […]
Each year since 2018, some member of Congress has introduced a bill called the PRO Act, which would, among other things, eliminate most forms of independent contracting and reclassify those workers as employees under the National Labor Relations Act. The House passed this bill along largely partisan lines in 2019. Much like its state-level counterpart, California’s AB 5, the PRO […]
Beth Anne Mumford and her husband welcomed their first child into the world in 2004. But juggling the new challenges of motherhood and office work became complicated. Pair this with the family’s relocation from the East Coast to the Midwest, just two months after their child was born, and a traditional job became unfeasible. Mumford was fortunate enough to rely on her husband as the family’s sole provider. As she got the hang of motherhood, she was ready to reenter the […]
Should members of Congress be able to determine how you do your job and who can employ you? According to the lawmakers pushing the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019 — widely known as the PRO Act, or one of the worst bills in Congress — the answer is a resounding yes. Why is the PRO Act such a threat to independent work and workers’ […]
Americans for Prosperity’s sister organization, Americans for Prosperity Foundation, filed a public comment December 14 in support of a U.S. Department of Labor proposed rule to update union financial reporting requirements. Although an update to reporting requirements has been considered at other times, a significant update was last implemented in 2004, requiring new levels of […]
A recent article by Independent Women’s Forum’s Senior Policy Analyst Kelsey Bolar highlights an unusual victim of California’s new restrictions on independent contractors: Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. In 2018, California lawmakers enacted Assembly Bill 5, which redefined what constitutes an independent contractor. While many choose contracting for the flexibility and diversity of clients, AB 5 […]
