With the economic uncertainty wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more urgent than ever that gig economy workers be recognized as employees with the attendant rights, protections, and benefits like sick leave. Mandatory arbitration agreements that prohibit... More »
On March 3, the Third Circuit vacated and remanded a district court ruling that UberBlack drivers are independent contractors and not employees. The unanimous opinion points to disputed factual issues that are key to determining worker classification and highl... More »
Sharon and I have a piece up at WaPo today making the case that California should follow AB5 with a new law that gives gig workers the right to form unions and collectively bargain with their employers. More »
This is the second part of a two-part post on AB5. A concern that has been articulated about extending generally applicable labor regulation to the platform economy is that such regulation would benefit the big players while making it more difficult for smalle... More »
The battle for the gig economy’s future is underway in California. The fight is over a proposed bill – AB5 – that would classify many gig workers, including Uber and Lyft drivers, as employees for purposes of California employment law. Should AB5 be enacted, g... More »
Last week, a coalition of 75 professors from across the country sent a letter to California lawmakers in support of AB5. AB5, which will soon be voted on in the California Senate, codifies the legal standard articulated in Dynamex v. Superior Court (2018) and... More »
For those who have yet to cue in, professional wrestling is fake—the conflicts are fabricated, the fights are choreographed, and the maneuvers are (in theory) designed to prevent injury. Yet, for anyone who has spent even a few minutes watching World Wrestling... More »
Earlier this year, the NLRB decided SuperShuttle DFW, Inc. v. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1338. In that case, the Board determined that a shuttle company’s drivers were correctly classified independent contractors. The Board took that opportunity to revi... More »
In her second post on the Uber/Lyft drivers’ association, Veena Dubal rightly celebrates the success of the recent Uber/Lyft work stoppages. The example of workers, who have no labor or employment law rights, engaging in the kind of collective action that she... More »
Over at Law and Political Economy, Veena Dubal writes an important piece that raises concerns about Uber and Lyft’s suggestion that drivers in California form a “workers’ association.” Dubal worries that such an association would amount... More »
In February, Stormy Daniels published an op-ed arguing that exotic dancers should be “treated as freelancers, not employees.” In doing so, she criticized the California Supreme Court’s adoption of the “ABC test” in Dynamex. Under that test, a business that w... More »
As OnLabor covered last week (here and here), the Department of Labor recently issued an “opinion letter” finding that the workers deriving income from an unnamed “virtual marketplace company” are independent contractors and not employees covered by the Fair L... More »