skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Can Wash. Workers Have Portable Benefits in Gig Economy?

play audio
Play

Monday, February 27, 2017   

OLYMPIA, Wash. – A new bill in the Washington state Legislature could help the growing number of workers without permanent jobs get benefits that go with them from job to job.

Lawmakers in Olympia have introduced House Bill 2109, which would set up portable, prorated accounts that give workers access to benefits such as worker's compensation, health insurance, retirement savings and paid time off – services that are usually provided by employers in traditional work setups, but typically aren't for people who work as independent contractors, for instance.

Nick Hanauer, the founder of Civic Ventures, an independent policy organization, helped craft this measure.

"This legislation is designed to make benefits universally applied, so that every employer pays benefits in some way, shape or form," said Hanauer, "and it's not possible to somehow skirt through a loophole so everybody else pays benefits but you don't."

Under the bill, an independent nonprofit would manage workers' money pools. Contributions would be made monthly by each employer a person works for. However, the bill could face opposition because of the costs it would pass on to businesses, workers or both.

The market for workers without permanent jobs, who often work on short-term contracts or as freelancers, is often called the "gig economy." The rise of the gig economy is changing the relationship between employers and employees. But Hanauer insists it shouldn't be a way for companies to maneuver around labor standards.

"We want companies to thrive because they're innovative, not because they're exploitive," he said. "And the folks that work for contractors, or Uber – or whoever it is – need the same kinds of benefits that folks who work for Microsoft get. And they deserve them."

Nearly 40 percent of Americans don't have full-time jobs, according to a Government Accountability Office report. And a growing number have alternative employment arrangements – working as independent contractors for such companies as Uber or Lyft, as freelancers, or for temp agencies.

A study by professors at Harvard and Princeton Universities found the number grew from 10 percent in 2005 to 16 percent in 2015.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021