Law Commons^™

How is it that the world’s largest taxi service claims it is not a transportation company? How can an iconic worldwide package delivery company argue that it is not in the package delivery business? These are just two idiosyncrasies of the modern economy in which microentrepreneurial contractors using their own resources carry out the fundamental operations of enterprises.

Businesses and courts have long struggled trying to determine whether certain workers are employees or independent contractors. Originally, the focus was on whether the employer should be held liable to third parties for injuries arising from the employer’s workers—it controlled the actions …