The employment status of Uber drivers has, to date, been considered in two Australian cases. In both cases, the Fair Work Commission (Australia’s national workplace relations tribunal), concluded that the drivers were independent contractors and thereby ineli... More »
For the discriminatory loss of early retirement benefits, the New York State Nurses Association has won a $20.8 million-dollar settlement from New York City. The city repeatedly denied requests from the Assoc. to classify nursing as a “physically taxing” job,... More »
The Fifth Circuit recently ruled that the fast-food chain In-N-Out Burger violated the National Labor Relations Act when it prohibited employees from wearing “fight for 15” buttons at work. Amanda Healey wore a quarter-sized button in April of 2015, and a co... More »
“Gig economy” or “online platform” companies that provide personal labor services—Uber, Lyft, TaskRabbit, Handy, Instacart, Grubhub, and others—challenge American law’s system for classifying workers as “employees” or “independent contractors, As I explain in... More »
Some of the hottest questions in labor policy over the past few years have been: how big is the “gig economy” or the “fissured workplace” or the “on-demand sector”? The Bureau of Labor Statistics gave its surprising answer to this question last week: smaller... More »
Starting tomorrow, no Costco employee will earn below $14 an hour. While some locations already saw a $13.50 an hour minimum wage, the new mark, which nearly doubles the federal minimum of $7.25, signals that the “fight for $15” is edging forward, and the nat... More »
The city of San Francisco subpoenaed Uber and Lyft yesterday, demanding that the ride-hailing companies turn over records relating to driver pay and benefits, as well as information pertaining to whether drivers are classified as employees or independent contr... More »
On May 11, the Ninth Circuit dealt a blow to a Seattle city ordinance permitting Lyft and Uber drivers to unionize. However, the court’s ruling was not entirely unfavorable for “gig economy” workers. Lyft and Uber, along with other affected groups, challenged ... More »
The Competitive Enterprise Institute has weighed in on our debate over flexibility in the gig economy with a new piece by Trey Kovacs. Their bottom line: they agree with my analysis of the law but object to the “burdens” (what I’d call minimu... More »
Professor Estlund argues that if gig firms have to classify their workers as employees (as I believe the law now requires, and as the Dynamex decision makes more likely), those firms will respond by “exercising greater control over hours and scheduling, ... More »
The so-called “flexibility trope” that Professor Sachs identifies and dismantles in his recent post is, I fear, a bit of a red herring. When Uber or other gig economy firms argue that workers will lose flexibility if they are classified as employees, I do not... More »
Today’s Philadelphia Inquirer reports on the death of Pablo Avendano, a 34-year old bike messenger who was killed while delivering food for Caviar, the app-based food delivery service. Because Avendano was classified as an independent contractor and not ... More »