The "sharing" economy is all too often the employee misclassification economy, with companies like Uber saying that workers are independent contractors but effectively treating them as employees. That could change, at least in California.
In response to a claim by a former Uber driver asking for more than $4,000 in expenses from her time as a driver, the California Labor Commission has ruled that Uber is in fact an employer, not a contractor:
The ruling, filed on Tuesday in state court in San Francisco, said Uber is "involved in every aspect of the operation." It is the latest in a host of legal and regulatory challenges facing Uber in the United States and other countries. [...]
... the commission said Uber controls the tools driver use, monitors their approval ratings and terminates their access to the system if their ratings fall below 4.6 stars.
In other words, it's not just some app that connects drivers and customers, because Uber controls the terms of work.
Companies get big advantages from misclassifying workers, because they're not responsible for paying things like Social Security, workers' compensation, and unemployment insurance. That's a huge competitive advantage Uber has used, and losing it would be a blow. But cracking down on misclassification would be a boost both for the workers who've been denied benefits and protections they should get and for companies that do things the right way.