Senate Postpones Final Vote on Gig Economy Bill

Thursday, March 29, 2018 | 0

It will likely come down to the wire tonight for a bill that would classify marketplace platform workers as independent contractors.

Yvonne Robinson
(Twitter photo)

The Georgia legislative session ends at midnight tonight, and dozens of measures are still on the calendar for votes. It was expected that House Bill 789, referred to as the “gig economy” bill, would be voted on by the full Senate Tuesday, but late Tuesday night the vote was postponed.

“They did table the bill, and it will probably be brought back up Thursday,” said Yvonne Robinson, secretary-treasurer of the Georgia AFL-CIO, on Wednesday.

The bill, which passed the House by a wide margin last month, seeks to settle legal questions about whether workers for online platforms such as Uber, Lyft, and Handy, which connects customers with handymen and cleaning crews, are considered employees.

The bill, similar to ones that have passed in six other states in recent weeks, makes it clear that the on-demand workers are independent contractors.

Labor groups and others have said the bills will make it too easy for employers to classify workers as independent, excluding them from the protections of the workers’ compensation system.

The floor votes in the Senate are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. today, but historically, votes have lasted until the last possible minute, legislative staff members said.

"It's keeping us in suspense," Robinson said.