WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) urged the Department of Labor to start collecting information on access to essential benefits for all workers in the economy, including contingent workers and those in alternative work arrangements, such as gig workers. This request comes after the Centers for Disease Control issued social distancing guidance for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, recommending that Americans work remotely, stay home when ill, and seek medical care when infected – underscoring the vulnerability of many Americans working without access to basic safety net protections traditionally provided by full-time employment.

“As The Washington Post recently wrote, gig workers – and contingent workers more broadly – are likely the most vulnerable workers to a potential spread of the coronavirus,” wrote Sen. Warner in a letter to Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia. “They may be working without access to a healthcare plan or paid sick leave. As a consequence, they’re not likely to follow the CDC’s coronavirus recommendations. They may not go to the doctor when they are sick for lack of insurance and they may not stay home due to loss of income.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 10.1 percent of the labor force – roughly 15 million workers in the U.S. – are engaged in alternative employment arrangements as their primary form of occupation. Currently, there is no BLS data detailing what percentage of those workers have access to benefits that can be essential during an outbreak, such as paid sick leave, access to health care and the ability to work remotely.

“Our American system of social insurance should not be a benefit we offer to the most privileged of workers. The entire premise of the Affordable Care Act was to solidify that basic access to healthcare should not be conditional on worker status, sector of employment, or take-home pay – every American should have access to affordable healthcare,” he continued. “In the U.S. Congress, I have advocated for experimentation of a portable benefits system for independent workers that would include a broader set of worker benefits. It seems increasingly clear that – for certain workers – not having access to benefits that are portable, that they can take from job to job and gig to gig, is a public health issue for the rest of American society.”

In his letter, Sen. Warner also noted the lack of access to benefits for traditional, low- to middle-wage workers, who are less likely to take leave even if they need it, because they cannot afford the loss of income or fear negative employment repercussions. According to a March 2019 Employee Benefits Survey, only 44 percent of service sector workers, 23 percent of part-time workers, and 37 percent of workers in the bottom quartile of wages have access to a healthcare plan. Additionally, only 43 percent of service sector workers, 23 percent of part-time workers, and 56 percent of workers in the bottom quartile of earnings have access to some type of paid leave.

Sen. Warner has led the effort in Congress to try to prepare workers for shifting nature of work, particularly as it pertains to access to benefits. Last year, he reintroduced four pieces of legislation to support Americans in our evolving workforce. This included two bills to encourage employers to invest in worker training and education, a bill to expand access to mortgages for those with non-traditional work arrangements, and a bill to allow states, localities and nonprofit organizations to experiment with portable benefits for the growing independent workforce.

A copy of the letter is available here and below. A list of Sen. Warner’s work on coronavirus is available here.

The Honorable Eugene Scalia

Secretary of Labor

U.S. Department of Labor

200 Constitution Ave, NW

Washington, DC 20210

Dear Secretary Scalia,

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently put out a public health response to a potential coronavirus disease outbreak in the United States that included recommendations for social distancing.  The CDC is urging Americans to stay home when ill, work remotely, and seek medical care when infected. As The New York Times recently noted, however, following the CDC’s recommendations in response to the potential spread of the coronavirus can often be a luxury some workers can’t afford.  Some workers may simply not be able to follow these recommendations without experiencing some kind of financial hardship. I write to urgently ask that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) start collecting information on the extent to which all workers in the economy – including contingent workers and those in alternative work arrangements – have access to these kinds of benefits.

Based on what we know from the BLS’s current data collection efforts, 10.1% of the labor force is engaged in alternative employment arrangements as their primary form of occupation.  That translates to roughly 15 million workers in the United States. Unfortunately, we don’t know how many of those workers are working without access to a broader worker benefits system.

As The Washington Post recently wrote, gig workers – and contingent workers more broadly – are likely the most vulnerable workers to a potential spread of the coronavirus.  They may be working without access to a healthcare plan or paid sick leave. As a consequence, they’re not likely to follow the CDC’s coronavirus recommendations. They may not go to the doctor when they are sick for lack of insurance and they may not stay home due to loss of income.

From the information we do know about worker benefits provision in the United States – thanks to the BLS’s current data collection efforts – access to healthcare and other benefits is already a problem for low to middle wage workers. Your most recent March 2019 Employee Benefits Survey results suggest we’re facing a worker benefit polarization problem in the United States. We know, for example, that only 44% of service sector workers, 23% of part-time workers, and 37% of workers in the bottom quartile of wages have access to a healthcare plan.  

A majority of these workers also tend to work without access to paid leave. Only 43% of service sector workers, 23% of part-time workers, and 56% of workers in the bottom quartile of earnings have access to some type of paid leave.  This last statistic is particularly salient for public health reasons because we know that more than 43% of workers in the bottom quartile needed to take leave in 2018 for their own illness or medical care and didn’t take it.  Of those workers that needed to take leave, your surveys tell us that over 60% of part-time and lowest wage workers didn’t do so either because they did not have enough leave, could not afford the loss of income, feared negative employment repercussions, or simply did not have access.

The other important piece of information we know as a result of current data collection efforts is that the ability to work from home is a benefit concentrated among those with higher levels of education. Your surveys note that roughly 12% of workers with a high school degree worked at home on an average day, while nearly 42% of workers with an advanced degree did.  This same trend holds true for full-time workers making the lowest weekly earnings – less than 8% work from home on an average day – while almost 35% of workers with the highest earnings do.  Similarly, less than 10% of workers in the service, construction and extraction, production, and transportation and material moving sectors seem to work from home. 

Our American system of social insurance should not be a benefit we offer to the most privileged of workers. The entire premise of the Affordable Care Act was to solidify that basic access to healthcare should not be conditional on worker status, sector of employment, or take-home pay – every American should have access to affordable healthcare. In the U.S. Congress, I have advocated for experimentation of a portable benefits system for independent workers that would include a broader set of worker benefits. It seems increasingly clear that – for certain workers – not having access to benefits that are portable, that they can take from job to job and gig to gig, is a public health issue for the rest of American society.

Again, I strongly urge that the Department of Labor start collecting information about access to worker benefits for all workers, including those in alternative work arrangements. Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter. I look forward to working with you on your next steps.

Sincerely,

MARK R. WARNER

Cc: Commissioner William W. Beach

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