I guess it is a question of power. An IT Contractor for example, may be tied to a specific client and the client may have strict requirement, but actually enjoy

I guess it is a question of power. An IT Contractor for example, may be tied to a specific client and the client may have strict requirement, but actually enjoy the same flexibility as the company as he can leave and reasonably assume he can be contracted somewhere else, or work on its own. On the other hand, if McDo was to label all its employee contractor, most of them are tied to that specific employment and don't have actual flexibility. I guess the contractor / employee law is meant to protect #2, but can catch #1 as a side effect. So whenever you say "I don't want to be an employee" you most likely in position #1, while people in the other group simply would say "I can't be an employee". That said, I have no idea what status Uber driver really should have. As taxi driver, I guess they have a variety of option for revenues and are only tied to Uber because Uber is a good source of work rather than being dominated by Uber ?