Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced bills to protect employers from charges of misclassifying workers as independent contractors. Cassidy’s Unlocking Benefits for Independent Workers Act would protect companies from misclassification lawsuits by precluding regulators from factoring an employer providing voluntary health or retirement benefits into the worker classification equation. The bill would apply to traditional benefit plans available to full-time workers, as well as portable accounts workers can take with them when they leave a job.
Cassidy also introduced the Independent Retirement Fairness Act to allow independent contractors to participate in retirement plans like pooled employer plans and single employer pension IRAs. The bills are being introduced along with Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-SC) Modern Worker Empowerment Act that would revise the test for determining when a worker is an employer or independent contractor.
The bills are Senate companions to legislation offered in the House by Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) that are expected to be marked up later this month in the House Education and Workforce Committee.