It’s Time to Extend Anti-Discrimination Laws to Independent Workers



Today, we celebrate the labor movement and the contribution of workers to our society and economy. This celebration needs to include not just employees, but all American laborers including independent workers. So, it’s fitting on a day that commemorates standing up for labor that we speak to the need to extend labor rights to independent workers.
While independent work can be empowering, independent workers have limited worker protections. Given projections that 50% of Americans will be independent workers within the next decade¹, this needs to change.
That’s why, on this Labor Day, we want to bring focus to extending anti-discrimination protections to independent workers. Currently, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and similar laws protect full-time employees, but not independent workers, leaving them vulnerable to discrimination and harassment without options for legal recourse. Similarly, off-platform independent workers can include anti-discrimination and non-retaliation clauses in their contracts, but this requires an understanding of contracting that is not universal across workers.
Stories illustrating the challenges independent workers face without having these protections are abundant. Caitlin Pearce, Executive Director of the Freelancers Union, shared the experience of Angela, a makeup artist from New York, at a hearing with the New York City Council’s Committee on Civil and Human Rights and the Committee on Women on June 18th of this year:
- “As the only African American beauty professional…, I was held to different standards than everyone else in the agency. I was told I could not have a photograph on the agency website because my agent ‘didn’t want his clients seeing that I was black.’
- “This discrimination meant I was being excluded from larger paying jobs and campaigns. I was put in a position where I was reliant on pleasing the person discriminating against me to ensure I could feed, clothe, and house myself. My health and well-being began deteriorating.
- “When I decided to leave the agency, I lost all my contacts and had to rebuild my entire career. I had to exhaust my savings to survive and now I’m still struggling to find work today, 1.5 years later.
- “With no repercussions, my agent abused and harassed over 20 beauty professionals on his roster. As contractors, we didn’t know who to report his behavior to. Since we were all freelancers and depended on the income of a person who facilitated our work, people were hesitant to speak up. Living in New York is expensive and there’s contact threat of being unable to survive here.”
The Freelancers Union, which represents 150,000 members, has helped illuminate the issue of these, and similar discrimination practices. Not surprisingly given the lack of support for independent workers, 75% of such incidents go unreported according to research by the organization.
It’s time for change
Everyone who works, regardless of their classification, has a right to a safe and supportive work environment. Government should extend protections to all workers regardless of their classification. As a starting point, Congress should take action now and support the bill that Representative Eleanor Norton has introduced to the 115th.² H.R. 4972 proposes to amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 to extend anti-discrimination protection to independent contractors.
It can’t all be solved by government regulations, however. Bias and discrimination can show up on gig platforms themselves, as found in a 2016 study by researchers at Northeastern University. “On Fiverr, the researchers found evidence that black and Asian workers received lower ratings than white people. And on TaskRabbit, women received fewer reviews than men, and black workers received lower ratings than white ones. Perhaps most troubling, the researchers also found evidence of such bias in the recommendation algorithm on TaskRabbit.”³ Some gig platforms have anti-discrimination policies through which users are disciplined or expelled for discriminatory or harassing behavior, which is a good start but these policies are not universal.⁴ Thus, these platforms should do more to combat discrimination, as Airbnb has started to do on its platform, and be held to a higher standard.
While we often hear about freelancing in “future of work” conversations, we argue that the “future” and the time to act is now. We must ensure the gig economy of today and the future provides a dignified source of work for all. Extending discrimination protection to independent contractors is a great way to start.
Take Action
Learn more about a number of actions federal, state, and local governments can take to address the rise of freelancing by reviewing our full Policy Agenda white paper here.
If you’re with us, show your support by signing up as a signatory on our Policy Agenda page. Look for the “Become a signatory” button.
If you’re interested in discussing the Policy Agenda in more detail, contact Jennifer Curry, Senior Director, Strategy and Policy, at jcurry@samaschool.org or write to info@samaschool.org.
¹ Upwork and Freelancers Union. (2017). Freelancing in America. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/upwork/freelancing-in-america-2017/35.
² For more information, see https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr4972.
³ Knight, Will. “Is the Gig Economy Rigged?,” MIT Technology Review, November 17, 2016. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602832/is-the-gig-economy-rigged/
⁴ For examples of gig platform policies, see https://www.uber.com/legal/community-guidelines/us-en/ and https://help.postmates.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000336806-Anti-Discrimination-Policy-.
