Biden Labor Department To Lyft Gig Workers To 'Employee' Status

Equal Ubertunity Commission?

The Biden administration last week rolled out a new Labor Department rule that would require many "gig economy" workers — delivery app and rideshare drivers, freelance writers, and others — to be treated as employees rather than as independent contractors, which would mean that the workers would be entitled to more benefits and legal protections. For help answering the question "Would this be good for workers or bad for workers," you might look at how sharply stocks fell in companies like Uber, Lyft, and Door Dash after the rule was announced, as investors decided the companies might become less profitable if they treat workers fairly.

The Department of Labor rule will theoretically go into effect sometime early next year, following a 45-day public comment period, although the rule is widely expected to be held up for Crom knows how long by lawsuits from companies that depend on the independent contractor model to avoid having to pay benefits. Oh, or to provide "more innovative, flexible services" to consumers at an affordable price — at least until all workers are replaced by robots, anyway.

Haha, as if being classified as "employees" will save anyone from the Rise of the Machines, we are doomed, buy gold and dig bunkers now.

 As Vox explains, the new rule is the latest twist in a fight between Republicans and Democrats over how to classify gig workers; the new rule replaces a Trump administration rule that allowed more workers to be classified as independent contractors, while the Biden proposal restores an Obama-era approach that's aimed at protecting worker rights for as many workers as possible. The Trump rule relied on just two factors to determine who's an employee and who's a contractor, while the Biden rule, supported by unions, "would give roughly equal weight to at least seven factors, including how important the worker is for the employer’s business, and how long the worker is employed."

At stake is a hell of a lot of money, with the big app companies insisting their business models depend on the "flexibility" that comes from not treating workers as employees but as "partners," which the new rule requires be said with an audible cackle. As Vox splainers, the essential difference between employment and contracting involves

how much control an employer exerts over an individual performing work for them, and what legal entitlements a worker can expect as a result. One major legal entitlement employees enjoy is the right to join a union. Another is the right to be paid at least the minimum wage, and for businesses to pay a portion of their Social Security tax. Contractors have no such guarantees, but some prefer the flexibility, and say they’d trade the workplace protections for freedom from a boss.

 In a statement on the new rule, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said yeah sure, flexibility, but let's not kid ourselves that big companies won't cut corners wherever possible, either.

"While independent contractors have an important role in our economy, we have seen in many cases that employers misclassify their employees as independent contractors, particularly among our nation’s most vulnerable workers,” Walsh said. “Misclassification deprives workers of their federal labor protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages."

As you'd expect, labor advocates are very much for this, as are a lot of gig workers, who for some reason aren't as thrilled by the freedom and flexibility of being "independent" contractors. Rondu Grant, a San Francisco driver for Uber, Lyft, and Door Dash, and an organizer for Gig Workers Rising, said in a statement on Twitter, 

For years, gig corporations have exploited outdated labor laws to avoid all responsibility for their workers, who are primarily workers of color and immigrants. Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash make their money off of drivers like me and govern my pay and working conditions, yet they claim they don't need to protect my safety or even pay me a living wage. They can't continue to have their cake and eat it too.

This rule can help establish bedrock protections for app-based workers like me and give us an important tool to fight for respect and safety on the job.

Business groups like the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Retail Federation decried the rule and said it would rob gig workers of their independence and flexibility and precious bodily fluids, which they would no longer be free to dispose of in empty soda bottles while driving. And indeed, Reuters found a rideshare driver who dutifully said she would hate to see government intrude on her freedom, even as she acknowledges that her take-home pay amounts to about minimum wage.

Nicole Moore, president of the labor group Rideshare Drivers United, told the Washington Post it's a "fallacy" that a majority of drivers crave independent contractor status:

Drivers for ride-hailing apps do not set their fees and lack the right to reject rides that lose money without being penalized, Moore said.

“There is nothing independent about how we do the work,” Moore said. “The only right we have is to turn on the app when we want and turn off the app when we don’t want to work.”

Man, talk about ungrateful. Doesn't she even appreciate being a "partner" for success, and all that flexibility?

[ Department of Labor / Vox / Reuters / WaPo / The Uncertain Hour / Image:  Elvert Barnes, Creative Commons License 2.0 ]

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