The United States House of Representatives passed the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act) in March, changing the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, as well as other laws that impact workers’ rights to organize. Freelancers, or self-employed contractors and gig workers who take on projects, are divided over the bill’s inclusion of an “ABC test” that defines who is and who is not an employee for the purpose of unionizing and whether this would reclassify them as employees. The test says that any worker must be considered an employee unless they 1. Control their own schedule, 2. Work in an industry different from their clients’ or 3. Can prove that they are “customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession, or business.”
