OnLabor

Law. Workers. Organizing.

Follow OnLabor on X
Subscribe via RSS

Category:Gig Economy

Exotic Dancers Join the Debate over Dynamex

Jun 17, 2019 Matthew Carrieri

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 wants to classify a worker as an independent contractor must establish each of the following: […]

Questionable Opinion About the Gig Economy

May 8, 2019 Sharon Block

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 Labor Standards Act. This action is significant – it marks the Department’s first articulation of how […]

The Digitalization of Day Labor as Gig Work

May 7, 2019 Veena Dubal

With the so-called “uberization” of work, any number of gig companies may be deserving of “the most scandalous” award. Perhaps the dubious honor should go to Uber itself which has sparked the imagination of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs the world over, inspiring them to use the guise of technology to transform traditional low-wage labor into […]

Law and Politics in Employee Classification

Apr 30, 2019 Benjamin Sachs

As has been widely reported, the U.S. Department of Labor issued an “opinion letter” yesterday concluding that an unnamed “virtual marketplace company” does not employ the workers who make the company viable. Instead, the letter finds that these workers are independent contractors. The letter is flawed in multiple ways. As Sharon will explain, deciding a […]

Criminal Background Checks and Disparate Impact: An Argument for Reform

Apr 22, 2019 Joe Ruckert

Amazon is currently defending itself in a class action alleging racial discrimination. In 2016, the company implemented a stricter background check policy for subcontracted delivery drivers. As a result of the change, several existing drivers—many of whom were black and Latino—became ineligible for continued employment due to criminal offenses that had previously been overlooked. Amazon […]

Uber’s $100b IPO

Apr 12, 2019 Benjamin Sachs

David Streitfeld has a great story in the NYT this morning about life as an Uber driver and the vast distance between what drivers earn and what investors will reap from the firm’s public offering. Drivers: $40,000 in a good year of full time work. Investors: numbers that end in “million” and “billion.” Travis Kalanick himself made […]

In California, Legislative Negotiations over the Worker Classification Question Continue

Apr 11, 2019 Marissa Marandola

As OnLabor reported last month, in the wake of the California Supreme Court’s ruling in Dynamex Operations West, Inc., the California State Legislature is considering several bills this session that would address the question of how to determine whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee under California labor and employment law. The […]

Employees or Independent Contractors? Insights from Japan

Mar 29, 2019 Yui Kosako

Recently in the United States, in response to the emergence of “gig economy,” the debate whether gig workers are misclassified as independent contractors has been heated. Japan’s practice with regard to the definition of employee could give meaningful insights to the U.S. practice. Employees or Independent Contractors In the U.S., the test to determine whether […]

Why We Shouldn’t Rush to Celebrate Instacart’s New Tipping Policy

Mar 4, 2019 Phoebe Bodurtha

It’s no surprise that gig-economy companies are careful to avoid disclosing just how little their independent contractors make on the job. So when one Instacart worker tweeted a receipt of his earnings that showed Instacart paying him a measly $.80 cents for a 69-minute delivery because a customer had tipped him $10, a social media […]

Post-Dynamex, California Legislature Takes Up the Worker Classification Question

Mar 1, 2019 Marissa Marandola

Last spring, the California Supreme Court sent shockwaves through the gig economy with its ruling in Dynamex Operations West, Inc., in which it held that the so-called ABC test is the appropriate one for determining whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee under California wage and hour law. Over the summer, the […]

Newer
1
…
6
7
8
9
10
…
21
Older

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.

Learn more about OnLabor

OnLabor is unable to accept unsolicited submissions.

Follow OnLabor on X
Subscribe via RSS

Contact: [email protected]
Site design: Jon White Studio

Sections

All Editorial Writing
All News & Commentary
From The Editor
From Senior Contributors
Analysis From Guest Voices
OnLabor In The News
All Featured Coverage
About

Connect

Follow OnLabor on X
Subscribe via RSS

Search for:

Exotic Dancers Join the Debate over Dynamex

Questionable Opinion About the Gig Economy

The Digitalization of Day Labor as Gig Work

Law and Politics in Employee Classification

Criminal Background Checks and Disparate Impact: An Argument for Reform

Uber’s $100b IPO

In California, Legislative Negotiations over the Worker Classification Question Continue

Employees or Independent Contractors? Insights from Japan

Why We Shouldn’t Rush to Celebrate Instacart’s New Tipping Policy

Post-Dynamex, California Legislature Takes Up the Worker Classification Question