Pennsylvania legislators are busy working to pass House Bill 2411 (HB 2411) to expand worker benefits by reclassifying independent contractors as company employees. While well-intentioned, this kind of law has already been tried once before in California where proponents hoped to increase employment numbers and enhance worker protections. Unfortunately, that measure ended up driving up the cost of labor and reducing overall employment. Pennsylvania’s proposal is likely to have the same result.
Pennsylvania’s HB 2411 aims to reclassify independent contractors as employees unless they meet certain criteria, such as possessing a written contract for a specific project, and flexibility to decide how to complete that project. The bill narrows the definition of independent contractors to expand the population of workers entitled to benefits. To enforce HB 2411, the state would have the power to impose fines and bar offending companies from contract eligibility for state and local public work projects.
While Pennsylvania’s HB 2411 was likely crafted with good intentions – extending benefits to more workers – the results from previous attempts at reclassification suggest the bill’s outcome will hurt the very people lawmakers intend to help.
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Trey Price is a policy analyst with the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. For more information about the Institute, visit us at www.TheAmericanConsumer.Org or follow us on X @ConsumerPal.