The United States is facing an existential threat to American jobs. Only this time, the threat isn’t a deadly pandemic; it’s the PRO Act.

On February 4, 2021, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, now H.R. 842, was reintroduced in the House. Scheduled for a full floor vote on March 10, the PRO Act would redefine the landscape for American workers—and not for the better. If passed, our country will see a new wave of economic devastation due to the bill’s ABC test, which provides new, ultra-restrictive criteria for independent contractors.

The ABC Test considers a worker an employee unless they meet all three of the following criteria: “(A) the individual is free from control and direction in connection with the performance of the service, both under the contract for the performance of service and in fact; (B) the service is performed outside the usual course of the business of the employer; and (C) the individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession, or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed.”

The PRO Act arguably has the biggest impact on the companies who rely on independent contractors. Companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash have received the most attention because they can only operate by hiring drivers as independent contractors. However, gig-economy workers would not be the only ones left hurting from the PRO Act. Freelance workers in all fields would suffer. Whether they’re child care workers, musicians, journalists, financial professionals, or healthcare workers, most freelance workers would lose the ability to work as independent contractors due to the ABC test.

Many individuals want the flexibility to work on their own schedules and for as many businesses as they can allow. Instituting the PRO Act would not only limit opportunities for workers to provide supplemental income to take care of family members, but would also force companies large and small to completely reconfigure their business models, cutting an enormous number of jobs to pay for the benefits of a select few “employees.”

The detrimental impact of the PRO Act is not a hypothetical. The real-life implications of legislation like the PRO Act can be seen in California. The ABC test, a part of the PRO Act, is based on AB 5 in California, which was enacted in 2019. AB 5 forcedmany California freelancers to reclassify as full-time employees. As the California Globe points out, however, full-time employment is not a one-size-fits-all solution.For some, being an independent contractor is the only way they can work.

From journalists to musicians, healthcare workers to language interpreters, numerous jobs depend upon the worker classifying as an independent contractor, not a full-time employee. In those types of jobs, work flexibility is paramount, and the restrictions of employment make work in the field infeasible. As such, freelance workers in California were laid off in droves due to AB 5, leaving these independent contractors without a source of income.

Now, if legislators elect to pass the PRO Act, the same will happen across the nation. The PRO Act would kill countless independent contracting jobs and threaten businesses that have supported our country amid the global economic downturn.

Since independent contractors comprising 10-33% of the workforce, any legislation that harms them, harms the American economy. And weakening the U.S. economy amid continued economic lockdowns and a global pandemic is certainly the wrong approach. As Americans, we must stand together with independent contractors and recognize the value they provide. We must defend their right and freedom to work as they see fit, which means voting against the PRO Act.