September 6, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 142 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1092]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      INTRODUCTION OF THE PROTECTING INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS FROM 
                           DISCRIMINATION ACT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 6, 2019

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the Protecting 
Independent Contractors from Discrimination Act, which would extend to 
independent contractors the same federal antidiscrimination protections 
enjoyed by employees. My bill would extend the following 
antidiscrimination statutes, which apply to employees, to independent 
contractors: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age 
Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, Title I of the Americans with 
Disabilities Act, Section 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and 
Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008.
  In a Bureau of Labor Statistics 2005 analysis of the American 
workforce, approximately seven percent were considered independent 
contractors. That number has surely only grown in the 13 years since 
that analysis with the growth of the so-called ``gig economy.'' 
Independent contractors, who often do the same work as employees, have 
almost none of the same protections, including health insurance, 
collective bargaining, retirement security and even antidiscrimination. 
My bill focuses only on discrimination, such as discrimination based on 
race, age and gender, from which every worker is entitled to be free.
  I strongly urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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