It’s more like they agreed to take the job of cutting these trees in a way that you would like for an agreed upon amount of money and then left. They don’t work

It’s more like they agreed to take the job of cutting these trees in a way that you would like for an agreed upon amount of money and then left. They don’t work for you, they did some work for you, but they didn’t have to, and they wouldn’t have gotten paid or been entitled to any compensation if they hadn’t. They would have been liable if they had killed your trees in the process. I think where we’re splitting hairs is whether the drivers have a direct relationship with Uber and Lyft that entitles them to the rights of a W-2 employee, or whether they are actually working for the passengers and are therefore 1099 workers merely using Uber and Lyft as a platform to find work. You see, there’s a decent case for the latter, it’s what they predicated their original business model on, but given the amount of control that Uber and Lyft does exercise on the drivers, I think that pushes them into W-2 territory. Drivers can’t even set their own rates for which they will take a job for example, Lyft and Uber hands the fee scheduling down from on high. The choice is binary, work for Uber or Lyft, or don’t work for Uber or Lyft. There was an interesting but failed startup called Sidecar I think it was. Never got to use it, but the description I received was you put in your pickup and drop off points and the amount you would like to pay, and then it broadcasts this fare out to potential drivers that happen to be available. They see it, and decide if they want to take the fare or not. If Sidecar were still around, I think they would have a much easier time proving their case that their employees are 1099 contractors, not W-2 employees. EDIT: Some additional thoughts I had after posting this. As a customer paying for a ride, are you paying to call a Lyft or an Uber? Or are you paying to call a driver. Lyft gives me no options to call upon specific drivers that might be available, or to eliminate certain makes of car that I dislike (damn Prius C drivers), and penalizes me if I cancel. When I’m calling a car, it certainly feels like my relationship is with Lyft the company, not the guy who eventually picks me up. I have no idea who that will be.