Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.
Future of Work Initiative Senior Fellow Testifies on Portable Benefits Before Washington State Legislature
February 15, 2019
Last week, I testified before the Washington State House Labor and Workplace Standards Committee in a legislative hearing on the Universal Worker Protections Act, introduced by Representative Monica Stonier. I discussed the section of the legislation that creates a model to provide portable benefits for non-traditional workers.In my testimony, I described how workers came to rely on their employers to serve as the access point for a range of benefits and other protections through the 20th century, forming a social contract between employers and employees. But this social contract has frayed as the workplace has fissured: many businesses today rely on subcontracted workers, independent contractors and temps. These non-traditional workers—both employees and independent contractors—often do not have access to employer-provided benefits and therefore must either pay out-of-pocket or put themselves at higher economic risk in the face of on-the-job injuries and growing healthcare and retirement costs. A key problem in today’s labor market is the gap in benefits coverage between non-traditional and traditional workers.We see portable benefits models, like the one proposed in Washington, as a promising solution to this problem, providing better, more universal access to critical benefits. This bill provides a legislative vision to improve benefits coverage for the non-traditional workforce. Policymakers across the country can learn from the legislative work done in Washington on this issue—and several already have: policymakers in New Jersey and Georgia, among others, have advanced similar frameworks. These state efforts have the potential to support a new social contract for the 21st century, one that improves economic security for all working Americans.