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
June 9
SoFi Stadium workers authorize a strike ahead of the World Cup; the NLRB finds Starbucks violated labor law; Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee is struck down.
June 8
BLS releases May jobs reports; US Trade Representative proposes new tariffs.
June 7
SAG-AFTRA members ratify a four-year CBA and the International Trade Union Confederation releases its 2026 Global Rights Index.
June 4
Third Circuit tosses DOL’s $35.8 million healthcare wage award; Trump’s Republican NLRB nominee gets Senate hearing; Harvard graduate students end strike.
June 3
JOLTS data shows mixed labor market as personal income declines; New York Fed research links remote work to rising youth unemployment; Virginia Governor Spanberger signs sweeping employment reform package.
June 2
Illinois passes rideshare driver unionization bill; DOL issues new union financial reporting rule; unions push back against AI data center regulations.