Benjamin Sachs is the Kestnbaum Professor of Labor and Industry at Harvard Law School and a leading expert in the field of labor law and labor relations. He is also faculty director of the Center for Labor and a Just Economy. Professor Sachs teaches courses in labor law, employment law, and law and social change, and his writing focuses on union organizing and unions in American politics. Prior to joining the Harvard faculty in 2008, Professor Sachs was the Joseph Goldstein Fellow at Yale Law School. From 2002-2006, he served as Assistant General Counsel of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in Washington, D.C. Professor Sachs graduated from Yale Law School in 1998, and served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. His writing has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the New York Times and elsewhere. Professor Sachs received the Yale Law School teaching award in 2007 and in 2013 received the Sacks-Freund Award for Teaching Excellence at Harvard Law School. He can be reached at [email protected].
I thought readers would appreciate the opening paragraph of a new article on regulating ridesharing platforms:
In 1933, Elizabeth Rhone called Try Me Cab Company’s advertised phone number to order a cab. The company dispatched a vehicle bearing its logo. Unfortunately, the driver negligently operated the cab and injured Ms. Rhone. She sued the company for her injuries, but the company responded by saying it is not “engaged in carrying passengers for hire.” Rather, the company characterized itself as “a nonprofit-sharing corporation, incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia for the purpose of furnishing its members a telephone service and the advantages offered by use of the corporate name, while the company did not own this or any other cab.” Although Try Me Cab Company held the license to operate the cabs, it maintained that drivers were the passengers’ independent contractors and claimed it was not vicariously liable for Ms. Rhone’s harm.
Is it still “disruptive innovation” if it has been going on since 1933?
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
February 16
BLS releases jobs data; ILO hosts conference on child labor.
February 15
The Office of Personnel Management directs federal agencies to terminate their collective bargaining agreements, and Indian farmworkers engage in a one-day strike to protest a trade deal with the United States.
February 13
Sex workers in Nevada fight to become the nation’s first to unionize; industry groups push NLRB to establish a more business-friendly test for independent contractor status; and UFCW launches an anti-AI price setting in grocery store campaign.
February 12
Teamsters sue UPS over buyout program; flight attendants and pilots call for leadership change at American Airlines; and Argentina considers major labor reforms despite forceful opposition.
February 11
Hollywood begins negotiations for a new labor agreement with writers and actors; the EEOC launches an investigation into Nike’s DEI programs and potential discrimination against white workers; and Mayor Mamdani circulates a memo regarding the city’s Economic Development Corporation.
February 10
San Francisco teachers walk out; NLRB reverses course on SpaceX; NYC nurses secure tentative agreements.