Senate HELP Chair Cassidy Issues Report Supporting Benefits for Independent Contractors

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Chair of the powerful Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, published a white paper that calls for allowing contractors more access to employment benefits, including a safe harbor long supported by HR Policy Association.

A safe harbor for employers, benefits for contractors: The white paper calls for Congress to consider establishing a legal safe harbor for employers that would allow them to offer benefits to contractors generally reserved for employees – such as paid sick leave, training, and healthcare – without having to re-classify the contractors as employees under the law.

• The paper cites new state laws and pilot programs in Utah, Tennessee, California, Pennsylvania, and Georgia that enable employers to provide contractors benefits as proof of the concept.

• Chair Cassidy seeks to avoid “the fear of potentially ruinous misclassification lawsuits” and to “help spur state and private sector innovation that supports workers.”

• The white paper cites federal restrictions on worker classification as “the biggest impediment” to these kinds of innovations at the state level.

• As a doctor, Chair Cassidy particularly emphasizes the importance of providing contractors with access to healthcare.

• HR Policy Association has advocated for this type of legal safe harbor for nearly a decade.

Growing momentum for changes to classification laws: Chair Cassidy’s white paper arrives on the heels of Rep. Kevin Kiley’s (R-CA) introduction of a bill earlier this year that would similarly empower employers to provide benefits to contractors.

The bottom line: Any substantial employment law reforms such as these are longshots, particularly in the current political environment. Nevertheless, clear support in both the House and the Senate – including the Senate’s top workplace policy official – indicates that we may see at least some movement on these proposals this Congress.