Screenshot from DailyDot.com, 12/3/2017

I feel bad for this little guy. This possum apparently broke into a Florida liquor store, knocked over a bottle of bourbon, and got sauced. Wildlife rescue picked him up and checked him into rehab (no, not that kind). Full coverage here at DailyDot.com.

I applaud the critter’s effort, though.

He probably feels a little like Senator John Thune (R-SD), who has repeatedly introduced a bill called the NEW GIG Act — designed to simplify tax law for independent contractor misclassification scufflaws. Every time he gets close, though, someone knocks him over the head with a bottle. Or something like that.

The NEW GIG Act has been introduced in Congress several times. If passed, it would create a safe harbor (for tax purposes) for businesses using independent contractors if the relationships include certain features. Even if the workers were deemed misclassified in the end, the NEW GIG Act would protect businesses from having to pay penalties for their misclassification hijinks.

The NEW GIG Act finally seemed destined for passage as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. But in the end, this provision didn’t make it into the final version of the new tax law.

Thune will keep trying, and the NEW GIG Act may one day get passed, probably as a rider to some well-meaning law requiring liquor stores to possum-proof their whiskey.

Until that fateful day, you can click here to learn more about the NEW GIG Act and what it would do.

For more information on independent contractor issues and other labor and employment developments to watch in 2018, join me in Los Angeles on Feb. 27 or Cincinnati on March 28 for the 2018 BakerHostetler Master Class on Labor Relations and Employment Law: A Time for Change. Attendance is complimentary, but advance registration is required. Please email me if you plan to attend, tlebowitz@bakerlaw.com, and list my name in your RSVP so I can be sure to look for you.

© 2018 Todd Lebowitz, posted on WhoIsMyEmployee.com, Exploring Issues of Independent Contractor Misclassification and Joint Employment. All rights reserved.