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> “The jury in this case will be handed a square peg and asked to choose between two round holes,” [U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria] wrote. “The test the Cal
by eastbayjake 11y ago
> “The jury in this case will be handed a square peg and asked to choose between two round holes,” [U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria] wrote. “The test the California courts have developed over the 20th Century for classifying workers isn’t very helpful in addressing this 21st Century problem.”
I know the author is an attorney and thus interested in the law as it currently exists rather than how it might be, but these articles about reclassifying contractors always seem to treat the issue like the laws are stone. The sharing economy is mutually appreciated by most of its contractors and most of its customers, it creates value for society, and the solution is that Congress and the California legislature need to revise these outdated 20th century labor laws to reflect current realities. We don't have to fit Uber into the classifications we currently have -- the law should change with the times. And they don't have to cave entirely to the demands of Uber et al -- there is a world in which state and federal laws are rewritten to recognize these contractor jobs while adding protections and job guarantees (like being able to charge your own price) without declaring all employees are FTE like someone with a desk job.
- cantankerous 11y agoReally the value for the customers comes from being able to hail a cab from your phone (because we're talking Uber, here). I don't think there's really any major value intrinsic to the "sharing economy" that trickles out to the end user. Uber could just as easily be a big company with a fleet of cars, or a service that lets nice taxis connect with fares. It would probably all the same to customers.
- akshat_h 11y agoThe cost of supporting those fleet of cars along with drivers will make it non-profitable for a company like Uber to exist in anywhere except for high traffic zones. So the prices will go up, and it may not be as convenient. I am not sure if any research has been done in this direction, but I would be curious to know how many man-hours were saved due to using Uber, instead of waiting for cabs. The big fleet model makes sense if you are employed full time, and at that time you may as well be a cab driver, but for small places with lower number of vehicles and high demand times, the model just doesn't scale
- jdmichal 11y ago> ... [T]hese articles about reclassifying contractors always seem to treat the issue like the laws are stone. Once you're at the point of a jury, which is the context of your quoted segment, then the law is set in stone. Yes, I'm sure there are many politicians contemplating changes. But the bottom line is that until that happens, the current laws need to be treated as, well, law.
- eastbayjake 11y agoTotally agree, my comment was mostly about the attitude in these stories that sharing economy contractors must fit into one of these 20th century labor round holes. I just think government could fix this "problem" very quickly by updating labor laws to more accurately reflect work in the 21st Century (e.g. my Bangladeshi Lyft driver who's working full-time on an MBA and only wants to drive nights until he graduates, and is more interested in the income than benefits)