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Category:Gig Economy

Gig News: Instacart Converts Some Workers from Contractor to Employee Status

Jun 23, 2015 Jon Weinberg

The Wall Street Journal reports that gig economy firm Instacart will convert some of its 7,000 workers presently categorized as independent contractors to part-time employees. According to the Journal, “the move applies exclusively to workers who are embedded in grocery stores preparing orders for drivers who make deliveries. Drivers and workers who both shop and drive will […]

A New Category of Worker for the On-Demand Economy?

Jun 22, 2015 Benjamin Sachs

As legal challenges to the “1099 economy” mount, and as it becomes more and more likely that companies like Uber and Lyft will be deemed employers of their drivers and delivery workers, some participants in the debate are beginning to push for a new legal category of worker. In a helpful piece on BuzzFeed last week, Caroline […]

California Labor Commission: Uber Driver is an Employee

Jun 17, 2015 Benjamin Sachs

As reported in the New York Times, and elsewhere, a hearing officer for the California Labor Commissioner has ruled that Barbara Ann Berwick, an Uber driver, is an employee of Uber. The decision is getting widespread attention today because it is attached as an exhibit to Uber’s appeal of the decision. As does the federal court in O’Connor v. Uber, […]

UberEats: More Evidence of Employee Status?

Jun 17, 2015 Benjamin Sachs

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal has an in-depth look at Uber’s forays into the delivery business, including a description of the company’s food delivery service, UberEats. The Journal article focuses on the hurdles Uber faces in the delivery sector, but, for labor and employment lawyers, there’s a particularly interesting tidbit that comes in the middle of the piece. According to the Journal: […]

Uber Arbitration Agreement Held Unconscionable

Jun 11, 2015 Benjamin Sachs

On Tuesday, in a decision with major implications for ongoing litigation concerning the employee status of Uber drivers, Judge Chen ruled that Uber’s arbitration clause is unenforceable. In a seventy-page decision, the court held that the arbitration clause, which contained a class-action waiver, is both procedurally and substantively unconscionable under California law. The order comes in two cases […]

Gig News — June 10, 2015

Jun 10, 2015 Jon Weinberg

This post is part of an ongoing series on labor and the gig economy. Senator Mark Warner has emerged as a leading advocate for gig economy workers. The Virginian-Pilot reports that Sen. Warner gave a speech last week at the New America Foundation noting his concern about the lack of protections for independent contractors in […]

Uber's Take-Rate Structure and Employee Status

May 23, 2015 Benjamin Sachs

According to a recent piece in the Wall Street Journal, Uber has increased it’s “take-rate” in select markets. Since April, in San Francisco and San Diego, Uber has been taking a 30% commission on rides offered by new UberX drivers. The previous take-rate was between 20% and 25% in these markets. The increased rate is itself of […]

Uber and Lyft: Customer Reviews and the Right-to-Control

May 20, 2015 Benjamin Sachs

Yesterday, I moderated an ABA “webinar” on Uber, Lyft and the sharing economy with three great panelists: Shannon Liss-Riordan, Richard Reibstein, and Evan Spelfogel. One of the most productive exchanges came during the discussion of how to determine whether Uber and Lyft (and similar “sharing economy” or “gig economy” firms) have sufficient control over the work carried out by their drivers to […]

Gig News — May 19, 2015

May 19, 2015 Jon Weinberg

This post is part of an ongoing series on labor and the gig economy. The Wall Street Journal published contrasting opinions on whether the gig economy is good for workers. Rachel Botsman, who teaches a class on the collaborative economy at Oxford University, argues that the gig economy is “enabling individuals to take entrepreneurial risks […]

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OnLabor

Law. Workers. Organizing.

OnLabor is a blog devoted to workers, unions, and their politics. We interpret our subject broadly to include the current crisis in the traditional union movement (why union decline is happening and what it means for our society); the new and contested forms of worker organization that are filling the labor union gap; how work ought to be structured and managed; how workers ought to be represented and compensated; and the appropriate role of government — all three branches — in each of these issues.

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Gig News: Instacart Converts Some Workers from Contractor to Employee Status

A New Category of Worker for the On-Demand Economy?

California Labor Commission: Uber Driver is an Employee

UberEats: More Evidence of Employee Status?

Uber Arbitration Agreement Held Unconscionable

Gig News — June 10, 2015

Uber's Take-Rate Structure and Employee Status

Uber and Lyft: Customer Reviews and the Right-to-Control

Gig News — May 19, 2015

Gig News – May 4th