Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, SENATE NEWS—HELP committee to hold a hearing on proposed legislation on workplace benefits and independent contractors, (Jul 14, 2025)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, July 17, 2025.

A full meeting of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) will be held on Thursday, July 17, 2025 to discuss several pieces of legislation proposed by U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Tim Scott (R-SC), and Rand Paul (R-KY) as part of a package “to modernize federal labor law to strengthen independent workers’ access to these benefits, and provide consistency and clarity in how an independent contractor is defined.”

This package comprises the following:

• Senator Cassidy’s Unlocking Benefits for Independent Workers Act, which proposes to establish a “safe harbor” under federal law for companies that would like to voluntarily provide benefits, and would apply to any benefit or protection commonly provided to full-time employees, such as retirement and health care benefits, as well as to emerging models where firms may pay into portable accounts, or any combination of those arrangements;

• Senator Scott’s Modern Worker Empowerment Act, which seeks to provide a single employment test under federal law;

• Senator Paul’s Association Health Plans Act, which would amend ERISA to allow small business employees, sole proprietors, and gig workers to aggregate and access health insurance through Association Health Plans (AHPs); and

• Senator Cassidy’s Independent Retirement Fairness Act, which seeks to allow independent workers to participate in retirement plans, like pooled employer plans and single employee pension IRAs, that are already available under federal law.

The Thursday meeting will be available via livestream. It will begin at 10:00 AM eastern time.

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