Portable benefits coming to Wyoming contract workers soon

Wyoming lawmakers should be applauded for adopting legislation this year to make benefits portable available starting July 1 and tied to the worker rather than the job.

Senate File 41 lets independent contractors create and use accounts for healthcare, retirement and life insurance – benefits historically available only to W2 workers. And they are benefits that previously created legal problems for employers and workers as giving and receiving them blurred the lines between the definitions of independent contractor and employee. The legislation creates the clarity needed for employers to fund benefits without the legal risk.

Given that there are over 65,000 self-employed workers in Wyoming – hair dressers, truckers, delivery drivers, freelance creatives and real estate agents to name a few – the law opens up the possibility of more stable and lucrative career for many without forcing people into traditional employment.

Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that over 80 percent of independent workers wish to remain that way, with only 8 percent seeking W2 work. And over 80 percent also want access to benefits. This shows that many people value the flexibility of self-employment over more traditional roles with set hours and days of work but also want benefits previously set aside only for W2 workers.

To clarify, employers are not required to give independent workers benefits under the new state law. But many no doubt will choose to in order to attract and retain the most qualified workers. And workers benefit not just by the possibility of better overall compensation but by being able to keep healthcare, retirement and other benefits when switching jobs.

Wyoming is not an outlier in modernizing how employers and workers may interact. It is part of a growing group of states of differing political stripes and private programs that are trying to make it easier to balance flexibility and safety for a growing group of contract workers. DoorDash has piloted programs in Maryland, Georgia and Pennsylvania, supported by governors in those states, to provide portable benefits for its food delivery drivers. Utah, Alabama, Idaho and Tennessee recently passed similar laws in recent years and many other states are considering portable benefits.

It is right that Wyoming legislators chose to make it easier for many of those who power Wyoming’s economy in construction, transportation, health care and other fields to more easily earn a well-paid living with a safety net without having to give up the flexibility of contract work.

May this law spur other states that have not yet taken the leap to address the mismatch between how people want to work and the employment laws holding them back from choices that benefit themselves, their families and the economy.