Law Commons^™

Precarious Work And Independent Contractors: An Overview And Comparative Analysis Of Recent Developments In California And Ontario, Lou Beckett

Canada-United States Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Independent Contractors In Law And In Fact: Evidence From U.S. Tax Returns, Eleanor Wilking

Northwestern University Law Review

Federal tax law divides workers into two categories depending on the degree of control exercised over them by the service purchaser (i.e., the firm): employees, who are subject to direct supervision; and independent contractors, who operate autonomously. Such worker classification determines the administration of income tax and what it subsidizes, as well as which nontax regulations pertain, such as workplace safety and antidiscrimination protections. The Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies have codified common law agency doctrine into multifactor balancing tests used to legally distinguish employees from independent contractors. These tests have proved challenging to apply and costly to …

How To Pay Off Hard Work, Juliette Hernandez

University of Miami Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

California And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Statutory Employee Classification Scheme, Richard H. Gilliland Iii

Washington and Lee Law Review

The battle over worker classification between state governments, on the one hand, and gig economy companies, on the other, has raged since at least the first time someone ordered an Uber. Nowhere has this battle played out more prominently in recent years than in California. In 2019, the state legislature passed AB 5, a bill which adopted a stringent independent contractor standard and effectively classified all gig economy workers as employees of the companies whose apps they use to find work. AB 5’s ripple effects were enormous—the significant popularity of gig economy apps among consumers launched what might have been …

Individuals As "Employees" Or "Contractors": Why It Matters What You Are Called When It Comes To Federal Taxes, Robert Eisentrout

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

When we file federal taxes, our individual tax burdens are affected by whether our employers and the IRS classify us as “employees” or “contractors.” Today, that distinction is not a neat one. Classifying workers as “employees” or “contractors” belies increasing similarities—like the ability to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic—between those classifications. With those increasing similarities in mind, this Note makes two arguments about the employee / contractor distinction in federal tax law. First, federal tax law draws an increasingly arbitrary and unfair line between employees and contractors given the modern substantive convergence of work done as an “employee” or …

Defining Who Is An Employee After A.B.5: Trading Uniformity And Simplicity For Expanded Coverage, Edward A. Zelinsky

Catholic University Law Review

A.B.5 made a significant but limited expansion of the coverage of California labor law but at a notable cost. Even as A.B.5 broadened the reach of the Golden State’s labor protections, A.B.5 also made the definition of “employee” more complex and less uniform. Those seeking federal or state legislation like A.B.5 confront the same trade-off under which greater coverage is achieved at the expense of more complexity and less uniformity in the definition of who is an employee. The same political forces and policy considerations which molded A.B.5 in California will have similar effects in other states and in the …

The Dynamex Dichotomy And The Path Forward, Leticia Chavez

Golden Gate University Law Review

The gig economy is a collection of markets that connects consumers with on-demand service providers (“gig workers”), and it has revolutionized the way in which consumers seek and receive services, such as transportation and household tasks. The ease of calling an Uber or Lyft, as opposed to hailing a cab, led to a decrease in arrests for driving under the influence in major cities. Similarly, it transformed the way in which many workers seek and perform work, as many gig workers enjoy flexibility and control over their work schedule. Gig workers can work for multiple platforms and also have authority …

Aligned: Sex Workers’ Lessons For The Gig Economy, Yvette Butler

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Society’s perception of a type of work and the people who engage in money-generating activities has an impact on whether and how the law protects (or does not protect) the people who perform those activities. Work can be legitimized or delegitimized. Workers are protected or left out to dry depending upon their particular “hustle.” This Article argues that gig workers and sex workers face similar challenges within the legal system and that these groups can and should collaborate to their collective advantage when seeking reforms. Gig workers have been gaining legitimacy while sex workers still primarily operate in the shadow …

Employment Classification And Human Dignity In The Gig Economy, Bridget Nicole Gonzalez

St. Thomas Law Review

What drives a business? Most simply put, profit. But to what end? Employment classification has a significant impact on a business’s profit. The two most common worker classifications recognized globally are the independent contractor and the employee. This classification determines whether the individual receives access to pay, qualifies for benefits, and gains protection from discrimination. All these factors come at a cost to an employer and result in a cut in their overall profit. In the twentieth century, employment classification has been subject to heavy litigation in a particular field: the gig economy. The gig economy, which primarily grew in …

Opposite Sides Of The Same Coin: Worker Classification In The New Economy, Griffin Toronjo Pivateau

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

Massive changes have disrupted the institution of employment. The growth of the service sector, technological advancements, and developments in the finance market have created a demand for new employment models. Employers have responded by increasingly utilizing independent contractors to fill positions traditionally held by employees.

Designating a worker as either "employee" or "independent contractor" determines the degree to which employment law applies to the worker. An independent contractor falls outside many of the benefits and protections that the law provides employees. Currently, courts, states, and administrative agencies use a confusing array of employment tests, created for different purposes and different …

Whose Gig Is It Anyway? Technological Change, Workplace Control And Supervision, And Workers' Rights In The Gig Economy, Alex Kirven

University of Colorado Law Review

Under the current regime of employment and labor laws, coverage is determined on the basis of whether a given worker is an employee as opposed to an independent contractor. These laws contain inadequate definitions of "employee," leaving it up to the court system and administrative agencies to define the term. The current tests that they use fail to capture the realities of the gig economy, a system that purports to promote greater worker freedom through the fragmentation of work assignments into smaller tasks or gigs. The gig economy has offered consumers lower prices and has given workers greater autonomy in …

Uber Drivers: A Disputed Employment Relationship In Light Of The Sharing Economy, Nicholas L. Debruyne

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Ride-sharing companies such as Uber Technologies Inc. (“Uber”) have revolutionized the ride-sharing industry. In the realm of employment classification, Uber has a substantial financial motivation to classify its drivers as independent contractors because it frees Uber from financing workers’ compensation programs, payroll taxes, and employee benefit programs. Others argue that Uber should not be able to escape such direct liabilities. In light of this ongoing debate, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has recently denied Uber’s class-action settlement agreement, thereby preserving the issue of whether Uber drivers should be classified as employees or independent contractors. Federal …

"Dependent Contractors" In The Gig Economy: A Comparative Approach, Miriam A. Cherry, Antonio Aloisi

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Does Work Law Have A Future If The Labor Market Does Not?, Noah D. Zatz

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This Essay is based on the 37th Annual Kenneth M. Piper Lecture. It offers a new perspective on the much-discussed “future of work.” That discussion typically highlights changes within the labor market that undermine the employment relationship’s role as the bedrock for work regulation. But might something even deeper be afoot, namely the disintegration of “the labor market” itself? Several recent developments challenge the legal construction of employment as occurring wholly inside a distinctive, and distinctively economic, market sphere. This Essay considers Uber and the relationship between work and “sharing,” Hobby Lobby and the relationship between work and religion, the …