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With Friends Like These... [1]

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Date: 2022-08-01

Not content to be the only Democratic Congressmember to vote against codifying Roe vs. Wade, or recently receiving an “A” rating from the NRA, Congressman Henry Cuellar has one-upped himself. He has introduced legislation on the House floor titled “The Worker Flexibility and Choice Act”, www.msn.com/...Technically the bill would change the Fair Labor Standards Act so that “employee” does not include a person who has entered into a worker-flexibility agreement. The bill would amend Internal Revenue Code to say that an individual who enters into any such agreement would not be treated as an employee, and the company for which that person performs a service would not be treated as an employer.

In reality, it would exempt employers who entered such agreements with their workers from wage and hour protections such as minimum wage and overtime and would supersede all federal, state and local laws on wages for workers in a worker-flexibility agreement. Or in plainer English, it would drastically undermine the Fair Labor Standards Act protections for a huge swath of workers. If you liked how Uber and Lyft ultimately tanked the wages and living standards of their workforce, you will LOVE this legislation.

“This federal bill would effectively get rid of the minimum wage and overtime compensation in one swoop,” said Veena Dubal, a professor at UC Hastings College of the Law who studies the gig economy. “The idea is that in exchange, a worker would get ‘flexibility’ associated with gig work. But this is a false dichotomy. Workers should have time flexibility and a wage floor. And they can — under an employment model.”

To their everlasting shame, Pelosi, Hoyer, and Clyburn’s recent support of Cuellar over progressive Jessica Cisneros almost certainly made all the difference in him eking out a primary win. I know this is a Democratic Party website, but Cuellar’s actions are inexcusable. Or to put it another way, just because someone is on team “D” does not excuse them from promoting terrible public policy.

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