Law Commons^™

Challenges For Black Workers After 2020: Antiracism In The Gig Economy?, Michael C. Duff

All Faculty Scholarship

Black workers’ fortunes in the coming decades are tied to the expansion of the Gig economy, the impact of which is to destroy employee status. Because much antiracism law and policy has been transmitted to society through the medium of employment law, the disappearance of employee status should be of concern to all foes of racism. This short essay argues that Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 should be expanded to cover all forms of racist workplace conduct. Regulatory arbitrage will continue to challenge the definition of employment for the foreseeable future. It is fitting that one …

The Gig Economy’S Battleground – California Proposition 22, Rebekah Didlake

GGU Law Review Blog

This November, California voters will have the chance to voice their opinion in the ongoing battle between app-based tech companies and the state of California. These companies want to continue classifying their drivers as independent contractors even though the state of California has determined these drivers are employees. So far, Uber, Lyft, and Doordash have spent $110 million backing Proposition 22, titled the “Save App-Based Drivers & Services Act.” These companies are hoping California voters will give them the relief they have not been able to receive through the courts or the state. This article analyzes Prop 22 in light …

All The World’S A Platform?: Some Remarks On 'Marketplace Platform' Employment Laws, Michael C. Duff

All Faculty Scholarship

This paper addresses the enactment of marketplace platform laws, which have arisen as a remarkable feature of the "gig" economy in recent years. A marketplace platform law decides the question of whether an individual worker is an independent contractor or an employee — an ongoing controversy in all employment law, including workers’ compensation law — by emphasizing factors other than those normally considered in traditional legal analyses. As of this writing, seven states appear to have enacted marketplace platform laws.

In short, marketplace platform laws — developed substantially and lobbied aggressively by the company Handy, Inc. — make it much …

Age Discrimination In The On-Demand Economy And Crowdwork, Miriam A. Cherry

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

The dominant narrative about the on-demand or gig economy focuses on the plight of Millennials, the generation born between 1982 and 2004. Reporters, bloggers, and commentators have largely confined their account of gig platforms to what the on-demand economy means for Millennials who are just beginning their careers. Media sources have spotlighted the hardships facing young, tech-savvy workers who are forced to cobble together a living through a combination of part-time work, entrepreneurial activities, and insecure gigs online. These sources note that these Millennials are barely scraping by and often lack job security or benefits. When discussing the problems …

Lessons From The Dramatists Guild For The Platform Economy, Matthew T. Bodie

All Faculty Scholarship

Are platform workers part of a firm or are they working as individual businesses? Are they providing their labor as part of a team, or do they hold on to individual capital throughout their transactions? This essay explores the question of employee versus independent contract through the specific examples of dramatists and screenwriters. Dramatists have chosen to conduct their work as separate artists; they maintain copyright over their work, and they retain control over its use. Screenwriters, on the other hand, work as part of a team; they hand over their copyright to the production company and cede control over …

The Tax Lives Of Uber Drivers: Evidence From Internet Discussion Forums, Shu-Yi Oei, Diane M. Ring

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, we investigate the tax issues and challenges facing Uber and Lyfi drivers by studying their online interactions in three internet discussion forums: Reddit.com, Uberpeople.net, and Intuit TurboTax AnswerXchange. Using descriptive statistics and content analysis, we examine (1) the substantive tax concerns facing forum participants, (2) how taxes affect their driving and profitability decisions, and (3) the degree of user sophistication, accuracy of legal advising, and other cultural features of the forums.

We find that while forum participants displayed generally accurate understandings of tax filing and income inclusion obligations, their approaches to expenses and deductions were less accurate …

The Uberization Of Arbitration Clauses, Jill I. Gross

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In the early part of this decade, the Supreme Court’s decisions interpreting the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) strictly enforced predispute arbitration clauses (PDAAs) with class action waivers and so-called “delegation” provisions in consumer contracts. Just after the Court’s 2013 ruling that clauses with class action waivers did not prevent claimants from vindicating their statutory rights, Uber— a company at the heart of the “gig economy”—started inserting PDAAs in agreements with its drivers and passengers. Uber’s move has generated dozens of challenges to its clause in lawsuits across the country, and thus dozens of federal court opinions contributing to modern FAA …

Are Uber And Transportation Network Companies The Future Of Transportation (Law) And Employment (Law)?, Miriam A. Cherry

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Uber, Lyft, and other transportation network companies (“TNCs”), have garnered a great deal of attention in the media and popular press for the efficiencies of their service, their “disruptive” business models, and their labor practices. Uber has almost 400,000 drivers in California and Massachusetts alone. Other TNCs have countless drivers of their own, and TNCs have become especially popular in densely populated cities. Gone are the days when one needed to hail or flag down a taxi, or call a dispatcher to request one. Now customers can summon TNC drivers using “apps” on their smartphones, and TNC platforms match …