From the Times Free Press, Andy Sher reports on the debate in the Tennessee senate on a bill that would make workers who worked through a marketplace platform independent contractors. Andy writes:
The Tennessee Senate approved legislation Monday that declares workers promoted by companies such as TaskRabbit, which run online “marketplace platforms” connecting customers with handymen and other service providers, independent contractors and not employees, thus legally exempting the firms from a number of legal requirements.
Senators voted 25-3 for the legislation, which was sponsored by Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson.
“Tennessee has continued to be a leader within the business sector,” Watson told colleagues. “This bill continues that effort, keeping our laws up to date with the incredible growth of the gigabyte economy.”
Watson said current laws “were developed decades ago and they don’t meet the reality of how the workforce now operates and is changing.” The bill, he added, is intended to bring “clarity.”
“We are living in an age that in future generations will be looked back on and seen as transformational” for technology in much the way the industrial age was seen in terms of mechanical advancements, Watson said.
But Senate Minority Leader Lee Harris, D-Memphis, and Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman Jeff Yarbro were skeptical.
He cited examples including a maid service, saying someone “may rob or commit some criminal act in that home,” but the marketplace platform could not be sued. Moreover, Harris argued, traditional businesses facing online competition could be prompted to declare their employees as independent contractors.
Watson said the platforms conduct criminal background checks and also examine whether workers are appropriately licensed or certified.
Political newsletter The Tennessee Journal reported Gov. Bill Haslam’s administration is opposed to the legislation. Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Burns Phillips warned the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee it could undo protections for employees, including minimum wage requirements, health insurance, unemployment insurance and compensation for injured workers.
It could also spur traditional companies to migrate online and make their current workers independent contractors in order to compete, The Journal cited Phillips as saying.
Yarbro said Monday the bill has no requirement the companies conduct background checks. He noted that is unlike the law Watson sponsored several years ago that enabled Uber and Lyft ride-hailing services to legally operate statewide.
Read the full story at Bo Watson’s bill on independent contractors stirs Tennessee Senate debate | Times Free Press
