On Monday, June 22 Senator Warner visited WeWork in Washington D.C. to meet with members of the gig economy and to hear about their experiences as freelance workers and entrepreneurs.

WeWork provides a collaborative workspace to entrepreneurs, freelancers, startups, artists, small businesses and even divisions of large corporations, making it a central hub for many of those participating in the gig economy.

During his conversations at the event, the senator emphasized the importance of making the gig economy work for more Americans and the need for to ensure that gig economy workers have a safety net – so that if they fall on hard times, the cost doesn’t get passed on to the taxpayers.

Senator Warner heard from a Virginia woman whose husband, an independent contractor, unexpectedly suffered a stroke at age 36, and said that experience drove home for her family how crucial it is that the federal government find a way to make the social contract work for people who are not tied to a traditional employer.

Senator Warner noted, “A tax and labor system which classifies workers as either ‘employed,’ ‘self-employed,’ or ‘not employed’ may have worked in the old economy, but not one in which so many people use apps to get connected with a different job every day. We shouldn’t wait for litigation to resolve this.”