Bill Text: HI HR52 | 2023 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requesting The Legislative Reference Bureau To Conduct A Study On Strengthening Labor Protections For Gig Workers In The State.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-10 - Referred to LGO, FIN , referral sheet 18 [HR52 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2023-HR52-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	52
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the legislative reference bureau to conduct a study on strengthening labor protections for gig workers in the State.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, in 2017, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that about ten percent of the national workforce, or more than fifteen million people, worked in some manner as an independent contractor, also known as a gig worker; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Pew Research Center found that sixteen percent of Americans were earning money from online gig work in 2021 during the coronavirus disease pandemic in positions like ridesharing drivers, delivery service employees, or home cleaners; and

 

     WHEREAS, a professor of labor and employment relations at Pennsylvania State University, told TIME Magazine that "most employment and labor laws were written half a century to a century ago and didn't anticipate the rise of the gig economy"; and

 

     WHEREAS, in the fall of 2022, the United States Department of Labor published a proposal to rescind a prior rule that lowered the bar for classifying employees as contractors and require employers to consider whether an employee's work is an integral part of their business and direct employers to use the totality of criteria historically used to determine whether a worker is a truly independent contractor under the following criteria:

 

     (1)  The extent to which the services rendered are an integral part of the principal's business;

 

     (2)  The permanency of the relationship;

 

     (3)  The amount of the alleged contractor's investment in facilities and equipment;

 

     (4)  The nature and degree of control by the principal;

 

     (5)  The alleged contractor's opportunities for profit and loss;

 

     (6)  The amount of initiative, judgment, or foresight in open market competition with others required for the success of the claimed independent contractor; and

 

     (7)  The degree of independent business organization and operation; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 2019, California adopted Assembly Bill No. 5, which protects workers from misclassification as independent contractors, or gig workers, by applying the "ABC" tests used by courts to determine employee status; and

 

     WHEREAS, under the California law, workers can only be classified as independent contractors, or gig workers, if they are free from control and direction by the hiring company; perform work outside the usual course of business of the hiring entity; and are independently established by trade, occupation, or business; and

 

     WHEREAS, when millions of workers are misclassified, companies avoid paying their share of social security, Medicare, and unemployment taxes, as well as state workers' compensation insurance; and

 

     WHEREAS, gig workers are attractive to employers because gig workers are excluded from the right to collectively bargain, which the United Nations has declared to be a fundamental human right for all workers; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to conduct a study on what steps the State can take to strengthen labor protections for gig workers; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to consider the provisions of Assembly Bill No. 5, 2019, from California; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2024; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Director of Labor and Industrial Relations, and Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

LRB; Labor Protections; Gig Workers; Study