3 ms·

Lyft may also suspend services in CA due to AB5

31 points by catsarebetter 6y ago

vondur 6y ago
I wonder if people will go back to Cabs or complain to their local politicians? I’ve never used any ride service, but I can see how they’d be useful.
- gamblor956 6y ago
  It depends on whether Proposition 22 passes in November. Prop 22 would create exemptions from AB5 for "rideshare" and delivery service drivers. It contains a lot of the things that Uber and Lyft should have been doing from the beginning, like minimum earnings, healthcare subsidies, workers comp insurance, etc., that the would be required to do/provide under AB5.
  - solidsnack9000 6y ago
    They are things Lyft and Uber could have done, if there were not a kind of no-man's land between "employee" and "independent contractor". Maybe they could have tried to offer some of them by helping contractors form a professional association that brokered the healthcare and insurance and even contributed towards minimum earnings, and then lowering their commission -- but directly offering benefits basically forces you to make people W-2.
    - redis_mlc 6y ago
      > form a professional association that brokered the healthcare and insurance You're obviously not a business owner. US health insurance is expensive now, and increasing about 20% per year. Gig economy opportunists like Uber will never agree to pay health insurance premiums for drivers since it's only a matter of time before the premiums exceed any driver fees, if not already. ACA doubled the monthly premium for basic health insurance from around $250/month to $500/month per person, which is rent in flyover country.
  - timbo1642 6y ago
    No, uber shouldn't have done and should not do any of those. Anyone with common sense understands its not a normal job. Liberals have a tendency to pass bad policies that cause job losses and big increases in costs to an already broke population, yet they claim to be for the poor. Just that alone shows they have zero common sense.
donor20 6y ago
I'm curious if this ruling also impacts things like instacart and other delivery services?
- gamblor956 6y ago
  It does, AB5 was deliberately written to target the gig economy.
- catsarebetter 6y ago
  As a former ic employee, this intrigues me more than Uber and Lyft. But tbh theyre pretty different companies, esp. bc in some niches, IC is almost classified as an essential service, so I think IC has a little bit more leverage.
DeonPenny 6y ago
Thousands loose their job during a recession. But at least a election is coming up
EricE 6y ago
What's been really fun to watch is the collateral damage of AB5 - set out with malicious intent to "punish" Uber and Lyft and it also managed to take out all the independent journalists and writers too. Many who are unabashedly liberal and were in support of AB5 until it took the legs out from under them too. Serves them right.

31 points by catsarebetter 6y ago

I wonder if people will go back to Cabs or complain to their local politicians? I’ve never used any ride service, but I can see how they’d be useful.

gamblor956 6y ago
It depends on whether Proposition 22 passes in November. Prop 22 would create exemptions from AB5 for "rideshare" and delivery service drivers. It contains a lot of the things that Uber and Lyft should have been doing from the beginning, like minimum earnings, healthcare subsidies, workers comp insurance, etc., that the would be required to do/provide under AB5.
- solidsnack9000 6y ago
  They are things Lyft and Uber could have done, if there were not a kind of no-man's land between "employee" and "independent contractor". Maybe they could have tried to offer some of them by helping contractors form a professional association that brokered the healthcare and insurance and even contributed towards minimum earnings, and then lowering their commission -- but directly offering benefits basically forces you to make people W-2.
  - redis_mlc 6y ago
    > form a professional association that brokered the healthcare and insurance You're obviously not a business owner. US health insurance is expensive now, and increasing about 20% per year. Gig economy opportunists like Uber will never agree to pay health insurance premiums for drivers since it's only a matter of time before the premiums exceed any driver fees, if not already. ACA doubled the monthly premium for basic health insurance from around $250/month to $500/month per person, which is rent in flyover country.
- timbo1642 6y ago
  No, uber shouldn't have done and should not do any of those. Anyone with common sense understands its not a normal job. Liberals have a tendency to pass bad policies that cause job losses and big increases in costs to an already broke population, yet they claim to be for the poor. Just that alone shows they have zero common sense.

donor20 6y ago

I'm curious if this ruling also impacts things like instacart and other delivery services?

gamblor956 6y ago
It does, AB5 was deliberately written to target the gig economy.
catsarebetter 6y ago
As a former ic employee, this intrigues me more than Uber and Lyft. But tbh theyre pretty different companies, esp. bc in some niches, IC is almost classified as an essential service, so I think IC has a little bit more leverage.

DeonPenny 6y ago

Thousands loose their job during a recession. But at least a election is coming up

EricE 6y ago

What's been really fun to watch is the collateral damage of AB5 - set out with malicious intent to "punish" Uber and Lyft and it also managed to take out all the independent journalists and writers too. Many who are unabashedly liberal and were in support of AB5 until it took the legs out from under them too. Serves them right.