Democrats are screwing up big time with efforts to regulate the new gig economy. While many companies such as Uber, Lyft, Postmates and others are attempting an end-run around employment regulations, refusing to treat full-time-style jobs as full time, attempts to remedy that cannot get in the way of workers choosing to be freelancers, with all the attendant benefits that provides (such as the freedom to set one’s schedule, or to make a little side money in the evening or weekends).
As new community member Kim Kavin notes, misclassification of employees is not a new problem invented by Uber and company. It’s been an ongoing issue. And none other than DNC Chair Tom Perez, when he was Labor Secretary in the Obama Administration, collected a quarter billion dollars in a single year singling out companies that were misclassifying their employees. Existing law already has the tools to single out bad actor corporations. Focus should be on applying that law, not enacting capricious new legislation that casts an overly broad net and is literally destroying people’s livelihoods. As the sponsor of California’s odious AB5 admitted: "Was it a little arbitrary?” said Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez. “Yeah. Writing bills with numbers like that are a little bit arbitrary.”
Good legislation is not arbitrary. “Arbitrary” destroys lives.
One segment that is heavily impacted by arbitrary efforts to destroy freelancing? Workers with certain disabilities.
The disabled community already suffers deep challenges in the workforce. According to federal statistics, only 19% of people with disabilities are employed full-time, compared to 66% of the general population. Education levels don’t improve those numbers. But you know what makes them worse? Being black or Latino, of course.
So what do those people do? They become self-employed, at twice the rate of non-disabled people—11% to 6%, respectively.
There is Kristen Lopez, a writer in Los Angeles who has brittle-bone disease and is wheelchair bound. “The emotional impact has been a lot of stress, worrying about how I’m going to pay bills and rent,” Lopez told CNBC. “Writing gives me and countless other disabled freelancers the level playing field they don’t see in reality.”
Migraine sufferers are a big segment of work-at-home freelance workers, like Brittany Shoot. “For the past decade, I’ve been an independent journalist, which means I work for half a dozen publications at any given time, covering stories and topics across a range of issues. I relish the education and diversity of subject I get to cover… but I especially love that I get to set my own schedule,” she wrote in Folks, an online magazine “dedicated to telling the stories of remarkable people who refuse to be defined by their health issues.” “That’s because, as a lifelong migraine sufferer, traditional 9-to-5 employment isn’t exactly designed for people like me, who can experience extreme torment at the drop of a hat. When I experience an attack, I have to quickly deal with any number of symptoms, ranging from projectile vomiting to extreme sensitivity to sound and light.”
I know this community well, as my partner is a lifelong chronic migraine sufferer. Freelancing allowed her to make a comfortable living without having to deal with 9-5 schedules that just weren’t feasible for the very reasons Shoot explains above.
Many parents struggle to balance work and family responsibilities, but that challenge is magnified when disabled children are part of the picture. “I was a freelance television producer for 20 years prior to my current consulting role, and now, because I need to be home with my son and take him to therapy appointments after school, remaining a freelancer is the only way that I can still use my skills and help pay the bills,” wrote Elizabeth Barry. “I could not work as an employee because I cannot keep 9-to-5 hours, plus commuting hours.”
Or how about those working with the disabled community? Take Pasadena physical therapist Dawn James, who contracts with school districts to help children in special education programs. James hardly feels exploited as an independent contractor. “AB 5 was written to protect workers,” she told the LA Times. “As a professional with two doctorate degrees, I really don’t believe it was meant to include me. This is going to be a huge disruption for the children I serve. I will not become an employee. I like having my own hours.”
Or Matthew Grogaard, whose child has global apraxia, a neurological condition that requires daily therapy. Not only does freelancing allow Grogaard the flexibility to be available for his child’s needs, supplementing his daytime income as special education school teacher by teaching ESL online to children in China, but “his therapists are independent contractors too. We are terrified about losing them, as they are such a valuable part of our lives.”
Several presidential candidates have made a big push to highlight support for disability rights. It’s a bit ironic if pushing this ill-conceived policy serves to hurt this community, one that already faces far too many challenges in the workplace.
