Helping Gig Economy Workers Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3773 To promote the general health and well-being of individuals accessing work through digital marketplace companies, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 20, 2020 Mr. BRAUN (for himself, Mrs. LOEFFLER, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, and Mr. CASSIDY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re- ferred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To promote the general health and well-being of individuals accessing work through digital marketplace companies, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helping Gig Economy 4 Workers Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. DIGITAL MARKETPLACE COMPANY SAFE HARBOR. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 (1) COVID–19 EMERGENCY PERIOD.—The 8 term ‘‘COVID–19 emergency period’’ means the pe- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 Jun 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3773.IS S3773 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3773 IS riod beginning March 15, 2020, and ending on the 1 later of— 2 (A) June 30, 2021; or 3 (B) the date of expiration of the public 4 health emergency declared by the Secretary of 5 Health and Human Services under section 319 6 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 7 247d) on January 31, 2020, with respect to 8 COVID–19. 9 (2) DIGITAL MARKETPLACE COMPANY.—The 10 term ‘‘digital marketplace company’’ means a busi- 11 ness entity affecting commerce that— 12 (A) maintains an online-enabled applica- 13 tion or platform to facilitate the exchange of 14 goods or services by users of the online-enabled 15 application or platform; 16 (B) licenses access to an online-enabled ap- 17 plication or platform to facilitate the exchange 18 of goods or services; and 19 (C) does not require a licensee using the 20 online-enabled application or platform to gen- 21 erate business to accept any specific job request 22 as a condition of maintaining access to the enti- 23 ty’s online-enabled application or platform. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 Jun 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3773.IS S3773 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3773 IS (3) INDIVIDUAL ACCESSING WORK THROUGH A 1 DIGITAL MARKETPLACE COMPANY.—The term ‘‘indi- 2 vidual accessing work through a digital marketplace 3 company’’ means an individual who— 4 (A) is provided with the option to accept or 5 reject job requests through an online-enabled 6 application or platform maintained by a digital 7 marketplace company; and 8 (B) provides services to digital platform 9 consumers upon connection through a digital 10 network maintained by the digital marketplace 11 company in exchange for compensation or pay- 12 ment of a fee. 13 (b) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 14 sion of law, in order to promote the general health and 15 well-being of individuals accessing work through digital 16 marketplace companies and to facilitate financial assist- 17 ance during public health emergencies, actions described 18 in subsection (c) taken by a digital marketplace company 19 during the COVID–19 emergency period shall not be used 20 under any Federal, State, or local law, ordinance, or regu- 21 lation as evidence for the purposes of— 22 (1) determining whether an individual accessing 23 work through the digital marketplace company is an 24 employee or independent contractor; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 Jun 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3773.IS S3773 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3773 IS (2) determining whether the digital marketplace 1 company is the joint employer of an individual who 2 is providing services on behalf of another company. 3 (c) PROTECTED ACTIONS.—The actions described in 4 this subsection are— 5 (1) providing financial assistance to individuals 6 who previously accessed work through the digital 7 marketplace company but are unable to work be- 8 cause of health or safety concerns; 9 (2) directly providing benefits that are related 10 to the health or safety of individuals accessing work 11 through the digital marketplace company; 12 (3) providing training or information related to 13 the health or safety of such individuals or the public; 14 (4) providing medical or cleaning supplies to 15 such individuals; 16 (5) performing health checks on such individ- 17 uals; 18 (6) providing medical testing to such individ- 19 uals; and 20 (7) taking any action, including those required 21 or suggested by any Federal, State, or local law, or- 22 dinance, order, or directive of any type, that is in- 23 tended to protect public health and safety. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 Jun 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3773.IS S3773 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS