New York City’s gig workers, independent contractors, freelancers, and others in the contingent workforce help power our economy and must be an integral part of the city’s short- and long-term economic recovery going forward. These workers include Uber and Lyft drivers, GrubHub delivery workers, nail salon technicians, home-health aides, domestic workers, as well as artists, writers, and many more in the creative industry. Some have chosen independent contracting and freelancing for the benefits of flexible hours, autonomy of decision-making, and ownership over intellectual property; benefits that should be supported and strengthened. But, countless others have been forced into precarious, low-paying, and exploitative work.
The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the challenges that independent contractors face when they are not guaranteed unemployment insurance and have no consistent access to employer-sponsored health care. Whether people are freelancers by choice, or reliant on precarious gig work that should be compensated as employees, NYC’s independent workers are a growing part of our city’s workforce. To ensure shared economic prosperity and a durable recovery, we must ensure that independent contractors have sufficient labor protections and choice, control, and power in their workplaces.
To that end Brad proposes:
Reclassifying certain independent contractors as employees so that they can have access to employer-based health insurance, and other benefits.
Instituting a minimum pay standard, for freelancers and independent contractors, starting with NYC’s delivery workers.
Creating a flexible portable benefits fund to offer benefits and social insurance
Prohibiting non-compete and forced arbitration clauses in freelance contracts
Know Your Rights public awareness campaigns and enforcement
As a Council Member, Brad made a focus on improving pay and working conditions for people in the contingent economy. He has worked in close partnership with gig workers, freelancers, and labor advocates to introduce and pass a number of laws that establish and expand workplace protections for hundreds of thousands of independent contractors. Some of those efforts include:
Brad passed the first law in the country to guarantee a living wage for Uber, Lyft and other for-hire drivers. Organizing together with the New York Taxi Workers Alliance and the Independent Drivers Guild, he raised driver pay by an average of $5,000 per year, putting more than $500 million in the pockets of drivers rather than Uber and Lyft’s bank accounts.
In partnership with the Freelancers Union, Brad created the “Freelance Isn’t Free Act” to give groundbreaking protections to freelancers/independent contractors to ensure they are paid on time and in full. Hundreds of freelancers have recovered millions of dollars they were owed.
Brad passed a law that extends the benefits of New York City’s Human Rights Law to freelancers and independent contractors, ensuring that all workers are protected from discrimination and harassment in the workplace.
At the height of the COVID-19 crisis, Brad introduced a bill that would permanently extend New York City’s Paid Sick and Leave Law to certain misclassified workers, including Uber and Lyft drivers, delivery workers, and others. Brad is still fighting to pass this legislation, Intro. 1926.
Brad is committed to working with contingent economy workers to improve pay, benefits and conditions across the board. He has been endorsed by the Freelancers Union, as well as labor unions and other grassroots workers’ rights organizations.