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"What proof?" you ask? Housing antidiscrimination enforcement teams have been highly skilled at gathering this proof for well over a generation and making charg

"What proof?" you ask? Housing antidiscrimination enforcement teams have been highly skilled at gathering this proof for well over a generation and making charges stick. Not sure about this? Ask your favorite search engine to look up "housing discrimination enforcement NYC" for example. If Airbnb were a local chamber of commerce making bookings for bed and breakfast places, it might be valid that they're just a booking office. But they're a major source of accommodations in large cities. As such they have to at least pretend to abide by those cities' antidiscrimination regulations. This policy is a way to do that without customizing the rules for each jurisdiction. People are free to use less controversial ways to offer their property for short term rent. I do that, and not because I discriminate (I don't), but because I want to keep a little bit more wealth in my community rather than sending it all to Sand Hill Road.

gaius 10y ago
If AirBnB is able to dictate what it's landlords can and can't do that makes them disguised employees no? Something else the government is good at sniffing out!
- csallen 10y ago
  No. Most businesses can dictate what its users do and deny them service for refusing to follow rules. This has nothing to do with employee status.
  - jacquesm 10y ago
    In the Airbnb case that would be a very thin bit of ice to skate on but these cases usually hinge on a large number of things that can be tested and this would be one of those things. Other such items are your ability to set your own schedule, your own prices and so on.
    - csallen 10y ago
      Yeah, I don't disagree with you. Just disagree with the parent who implied that Airbnb's new rules are sufficient for classifying landlords as employees. ("If AirBnB is able to dictate what it's landlords can and can't do that makes them disguised employees") They're not even close to sufficient.
      - jamiesonbecker 10y ago
        > Just disagree with the parent who implied that Airbnb's new rules are sufficient for classifying landlords as employees. ("If AirBnB is able to dictate what it's landlords can and can't do that makes them disguised employees") "The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if the payer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done." IRS[1] To your point, it is somewhat more complicated than that, and the IRS used to have a 20 factor test (now an 11 factor test) but it can basically be boiled down to: if AirBNB can specify HOW the services shall be rendered in detail, instead of simply the results or when they will be delivered, then the IRS can re-classify those contractors as employees. In practice, and even though I think AirBNB is not in the moral right place here, I can't imagine IRS rules being applied in circumstances like this (i.e., where a contractor is actually the one doing the selling in someone else's marketplace.) In other words, AirBNB, Amazon, or Ebay vendors can sell things according to the marketplace's strict rules (which specify HOW) without being re-classified. If I was AirBNB, I'd argue that I was the marketplace and not the merchant of record for the items (e.g. insert the seller name into the credit card receipt). This is a tricky thing, though.. who is liable for a harmful item sold at Walmart -- Walmart, the manufacturer, or both? We all know the answer to that. IANAL and I'd appreciate correction or expansion from tax/employment law lawyers. 1. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-defined https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employe...
        jacquesm 10y ago
        Airbnb actually is the merchant of record for all of their credit card transactions.
brianwawok 10y ago
Generally went renting a room, you are allowed to discriminate. A post of three girls looking for a forth girl to share is generally legal. So it seems like this commitment is actually going past what the law says. I would never rent our my place so maybe I am not the target audience. But this would lower my odds even more. If I own the place, I want to discriminate on who stays there.

gaius 10y ago

If AirBnB is able to dictate what it's landlords can and can't do that makes them disguised employees no? Something else the government is good at sniffing out!

csallen 10y ago
No. Most businesses can dictate what its users do and deny them service for refusing to follow rules. This has nothing to do with employee status.
- jacquesm 10y ago
  In the Airbnb case that would be a very thin bit of ice to skate on but these cases usually hinge on a large number of things that can be tested and this would be one of those things. Other such items are your ability to set your own schedule, your own prices and so on.
  - csallen 10y ago
    Yeah, I don't disagree with you. Just disagree with the parent who implied that Airbnb's new rules are sufficient for classifying landlords as employees. ("If AirBnB is able to dictate what it's landlords can and can't do that makes them disguised employees") They're not even close to sufficient.
    - jamiesonbecker 10y ago
      > Just disagree with the parent who implied that Airbnb's new rules are sufficient for classifying landlords as employees. ("If AirBnB is able to dictate what it's landlords can and can't do that makes them disguised employees") "The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if the payer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done." IRS[1] To your point, it is somewhat more complicated than that, and the IRS used to have a 20 factor test (now an 11 factor test) but it can basically be boiled down to: if AirBNB can specify HOW the services shall be rendered in detail, instead of simply the results or when they will be delivered, then the IRS can re-classify those contractors as employees. In practice, and even though I think AirBNB is not in the moral right place here, I can't imagine IRS rules being applied in circumstances like this (i.e., where a contractor is actually the one doing the selling in someone else's marketplace.) In other words, AirBNB, Amazon, or Ebay vendors can sell things according to the marketplace's strict rules (which specify HOW) without being re-classified. If I was AirBNB, I'd argue that I was the marketplace and not the merchant of record for the items (e.g. insert the seller name into the credit card receipt). This is a tricky thing, though.. who is liable for a harmful item sold at Walmart -- Walmart, the manufacturer, or both? We all know the answer to that. IANAL and I'd appreciate correction or expansion from tax/employment law lawyers. 1. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-defined https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employe...
      - jacquesm 10y ago
        Airbnb actually is the merchant of record for all of their credit card transactions.

brianwawok 10y ago

Generally went renting a room, you are allowed to discriminate. A post of three girls looking for a forth girl to share is generally legal. So it seems like this commitment is actually going past what the law says. I would never rent our my place so maybe I am not the target audience. But this would lower my odds even more. If I own the place, I want to discriminate on who stays there.