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> these workers need unemployment insurance, as Covid has shown, and somebody needs to pay for it: be it the workers or the ridesharing businesses. The state c
by brian_cloutier 6y ago
> these workers need unemployment insurance, as Covid has shown, and somebody needs to pay for it: be it the workers or the ridesharing businesses.
The state could also pay for it, through tax revenue. Unemployment insurance seems like a great fit for a government, since any kind of massive correlated unemployment, as we're experiencing now, would absolutely wipe out any private insurer.
- _jal 6y agoAnd that is the way it works, in functional countries. And I absolutely agree, divorcing healthcare from employment is the single best thing the US could do to help fix several different issues. But "We could massively restructure the US economy" is only an answer to "how should rideshare employees be classified" if you want to ensure nothing changes.
- rayhendricks 6y agoMore specifically we need to totally decouple health insurance from employment. This is not post-ww2 anymore. No more Cadillac plans from FAANG companies either unless your paying for it out of your own pocket. This would immediately solve half of the problems with healthcare in this country if everyone had to use the health insurance exchanges to buy insurance.
- scarface74 6y agoMy health care plan was better and cheaper when I was working for a 50 person company than it is at a FAANG. Then again, I work for the one that is all about “frugality”.... It’s not bad, but no better than my jobs before the last one.
- cbmuser 6y ago> And that is the way it works, in functional countries. In Germany, neither health insurance nor unemployment insurance are paid through taxes. Both are deducted from your salary. It is true, however, that the government subsidizes the public health insurance so that low-income households can afford an insurance. Also, we have similar laws in Germany (and most European) countries like AB5 that prohibit misclassification of employees as independent contractors: > https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheinselbst%C3%A4ndigkeit https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheinselbst%C3%A4ndigkeit
- mcguire 6y agoHow is Germany handling ride-sharing?
- sudosysgen 6y agoSure. Once the State nationalizes unemployment insurance and healthcare insurance then we can reclassify them as contractors.
- dahfizz 6y agoThis perfectly lays bare why I disagree with the ruling: you don't actually think drivers are employees, you just want them classified as employees so they get X benefits. It's a legislative hack. It's seems so obvious to me that we need to create a third kind of worker: not an employee, not a contractor, but a new category that has some of the extra freedom of contracting and some of the benefits of employment. It's important that we maintain integrity in our legal system. Uber drivers are not employees, and saying "we need to classify them as employees so they get insurance" is fundamentally backwards.
- sudosysgen 6y agoNo, they pretty much are employees, sorry. Under the current framework, they fit the definition of employee well in the letter and perfectly in the spirit. Employees can have literally every single freedom that Uber drivers have. Nothing is disqualifying. I agree that once we reform Healthcare and Unemployment, we can create a third category if we want, but there are actually no inherent disadvantages in freedom of being an employee in this case. The classification as contractor only really benefits Uber and hurts the common man.
- DangitBobby 6y ago>once we reform Healthcare Your optimism is inspiring, but there's been "bipartisan support" for meaningful healthcare reform going as far back as Nixon. Probably further. If the people who actually make the rules wanted it done, it would be done.
- sudosysgen 6y agoI share your pessimism, it was a rhetorical device, hence the "Once we're done reforming", which will likely never happen. Since Biden is against any form of Universal Healthcare, it is literally impossible before 6 years into the future.