21st Century Worker Act

This bill would set one federal test for deciding whether a worker paid for goods or services is an employee or an independent contractor. Workers who are licensed professionals offering services to the public, business entities, direct sellers, certain sole proprietors and contractors, or who work less than 30 days per quarter would be independent contractors, while those working substantially full-time on hours set by the payer, or who agree to be employees, would be employees. Workers who fit neither group would choose their status in a signed written election, with penalties of up to $100 for not making or keeping the election and a penalty of 15 percent of pay for willful or reckless misclassification. The new definitions would apply to the Fair Labor Standards Act, the National Labor Relations Act, and federal tax law, and the Government Accountability Office would report within 2 years on other federal laws that use different definitions.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Mike Lee Republican sponsor
• 1 cosponsors