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Careful, franchise ownersentrepreneurs and independent contractors: It's time to call your legislators and insist on their vote to protect the way you earn a living.
Why? Because federal agencies are scrambling for regulatory solutions to implement policies that Congress refused to enact—policies that threaten the right to franchise and independent contractors to continue our work business as we do today.
The Dangerous Act “Protection of the Right to Organize”
The background you need to know begins with a bill that moderate Democrats in the US Senate joined with Republicans to block. That bill was called the Right to Organize Protection Act and it contained language so dangerous to franchise owners and entrepreneurs. entrepreneur published her the first ever series of political advocacy articles in opposition to it.
I wrote that series, called Campaign for Our Careers. It was an award-winning look at the two most dangerous provisions of the PRO Act for franchisees and independent contractors: joint-employer standard AND The ABC test.
Congressional Review Act (CRA)
Since the PRO Act could not pass through the legislative branch of government, the Biden administration has attempted to use the executive branch to impose similar policy changes. We need every possible legislator to co-sponsor the use of Congressional Review Act (CRA) to reverse these executive branch moves.
In common employer language, the CRA would override changes to the common employer standard by the National Labor Relations Board. This CRA has already passed the House of Representatives – in one bipartisan 206-177 votes – but is still awaiting action in the Senate. The International Franchise Agency called on lawmakers since late February “to kill the common employer once and for all.” More than 90 organizations have adopted this CRA.
In independent contractor parlance, the US Department of Labor agrees his new rule that there may be “conceptual overlap” with the more harmful section of the ABC Test for independent contractors. of American Chamber of Commerce states “DOL's claim that the regulation does not reflect the ABC Test leaves something to be desired.” The independent contractor CRA was introduced in the House and Senate in early March with more than 70 co-sponsors and needs more in both chambers to advance.
Federal lawsuits have been filed against both federal agencies, trying to block these policy changes through the courts. But given the snail's pace at which the wheels of justice can turn, it's important that Congress act.
Connected: This new government rule threatens to disrupt America's $825 billion franchise system
Contact your representatives now
Of course, to get Congress to act, lawmakers must hear from constituents. Call or email your member of the House of Representatives and your two senators. Ask them to co-sponsor using the Congressional Review Act to ban both the National Labor Relations Board's joint employer standard and the Labor Department's independent contractor rule.
To contact your member of the House of Representatives, Go here.
To contact your state's two senators, Go here.
Act now, without delay. Both of these changes are scheduled to take effect on March 11, unless the courts or Congress intervene.
Kim Kavin is one of a half-dozen freelance writers and editors who have sued the U.S. Department of Labor in two separate lawsuits through Pacific Legal Foundation AND Tennessee Beacon Center on the independent contractor rule.