From the Atlantic, Gillian B. White discusses the sharing economy and the classification of workers as independent contractors. She observes that they may be some legitimate independent contractors but questions whether workers in the sharing economy are properly classified. Gillian writes:
there are some companies who say that workers prefer the flexibility that accompanies the lack of an actual employee title, and the restrictions that come with it. Miriam Cherry, a law professor at St. Louis University, says that, for those who are doing particularly well in their field, it can afford them the ability to work for multiple employers, or charge more in the name of having to cover their expenses, or ramp up or pare down on hours, depending on their needs at the time.
But when it comes to sharing-economy employees, that’s not always the case, and for many workers in misclassification suits, nonemployee status isn’t a choice, it’s the cost of having a job at all.
According to both Cherry and David Mack, director of public affairs at Lyft, the evolving nature of sharing-economy jobs means that perhaps a new method of classifying employees is needed—one that helps to provide some protection without burdening innovation. “It seems clear that people should be open to evolving the current system,” Mack says. “Many people of all levels are recognizing that there should be a third way.”…
Read the full story at Why Don’t Uber and Lyft Consider Drivers Employees?
