[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 7, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E153]
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

                      Wednesday, February 7, 2018

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I introduce the Protecting 
Independent Contractors from Discrimination Act to extend to 
independent contractors the same federal antidiscrimination protections 
enjoyed by employees. My bill would extend the antidiscrimination 
protections of the following 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.'' These 
workers, who often do the same work as employees, have almost none of 
the protections guaranteed to employees, including health insurance, 
collective bargaining, retirement security and even antidiscrimination. 
My bill focuses only on the employment 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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