The Freelance Is not Free Act passes to guard staff contracted by New York firms (even when they do not reside within the state) – Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard

Business Mandate June 08, 2022

Final week the New York State Senate passed Senate Bill S8369B, aka the “Freelance Isn’t Free Act,” to guard freelance staff from wage theft and unfair fee practices by firms primarily based within the state.

The legislation is aimed toward “creating parity between workers employed onto a payroll and freelancers employed underneath a time-limited contract.” It mandates that any firm hiring a freelancer for a minimum of $250 should present them with a written contract and well timed fee in full. If the contact doesn’t specify a fee date, then the freelancer should be paid inside 30 days after the work is accomplished. The invoice additionally specifies that firms are prohibited from retaliating in opposition to freelancers for looking for fee primarily based on their rights assured within the legislation. Violators of the legislation may very well be topic to penalties as much as $25,000.

“Freelance Isn’t Free is a significant step towards ensuring everyone seems to be handled pretty, it doesn’t matter what tax kinds they file,” Eric Thurm, marketing campaign coordinator on the Nationwide Writers Union and communications chair for the Freelance Solidarity Project, stated in an e-mail. “Because the boundaries between conventional employment, freelancing, and gig work turn out to be murkier, we should struggle for staff who’ve been unfairly excluded from U.S. labor protections. We’re proud that this invoice won’t solely assist New York’s freelancers, but in addition these working for New York-based employers throughout the nation. As a longtime heart for inventive industries, we’re excited that New York is setting requirements for the way writers, artists, illustrators, editors, audio producers, and extra receives a commission.”

The legislation is a statewide growth of the New York Metropolis legislation that was enacted in 2017. Its success on the metropolis degree is what led lawmakers to develop it to the whole state. From the bill:

On Might fifteenth, 2017, New York Metropolis’s Native Regulation 140 of 2016 establishing the Freelance Isn’t Free Act took impact. This landmark legislation, which created primary labor protections for freelance staff similar to the fitting to a written contract, well timed and full fee, and safety from retaliation, has resulted in 1,191 circumstances filed with the NYC Division of Shopper and Employee Safety (DCWP) in 2018 and 2019 alone, with greater than $1.3 million recovered in restitution and penalties. In 2020, amidst the COVID lockdown, there have been 490 complaints filed by freelance staff, 450 for illegal fee practices. In December of 2021, the Metropolis filed its first lawsuit underneath the Act in opposition to L’Officiel USA, the American subsidiary of a world journal firm that had demonstrated a systemic sample of failing to pay freelancers on time or in any respect.

These numbers clearly display what freelancers have at all times recognized to be true: that impartial contractors, not protected by the identical minimal wage legal guidelines as common workers and usually ineligible for unemployment and staff compensation, are a few of the most uncovered laborers in our state in the case of wage theft.

The passage of the legislation particularly advantages freelance staff who reside exterior of New York however are contracted by firms within the state.

“I’m enthusiastic about it,” freelance journalist Aria Velasquez, who’s primarily based in Atlanta, Ga., stated. “Despite the fact that I’m not primarily based in New York, a whole lot of firms I’ve freelanced for are and this turning into a statewide legislation offers me extra safety and leverage in opposition to exploitation.”

Wudan Yan, an impartial journalist primarily based in Seattle, Wash., stated the legislation not solely creates alternatives for freelancers to soundly search work within the state, but in addition paves the best way for extra states to ensure gig staff’s rights. Washington, California, and Pennsylvania additionally offer various ranges of authorized protections to freelancers.

“It’s a very vital authorized precedent for different states to probably think about adopting a statewide legislation on freelancing,” Yan stated. “Freelancing Isn’t Free isn’t nearly late fee; it’s additionally about issues like retaliation and numerous different freelancers rights. That is actually thrilling.”

Nonetheless ready on a remark from (presumably) pro-worker Rihanna however within the meantime, learn the total invoice here.

GIF from Rihanna’s “Bitch Higher Have My Cash.”



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