California passes bill that classifies gig economy workers as employees

Re:California passes bill that classifies gig economy worker... by pishpash on Wednesday September 11, 2019 @07:51AM (#20938954)

You seem to imagine what you want to see. Drivers choose whether to work, when to work, where to work, whether to accept jobs, whether to complete a job or cancel it, whether to take the route suggested or not, whether to take jobs from other gig companies at the same time, whether to run personal errands in between, whether to take breaks, whether to heed feedback given by their own customers, whether to be in areas where demand will be high and jobs are likely, whether to be influenced by incentives or other payments dictated by market conditions, etc. What is the interference?

Au contraire, it is the various governments over the years that have re-regulated drivers (cannot drive in certain areas at certain times, must display decal, must carry license, must pay ransom fees, cannot stop in places, etc.) in ways that have taken away their control over work. We're headed back to capped and regulated taxis, unfortunately. New York City already has a black market trading TNC plates, just like medallions, and prices are back to taxi levels. Hope you like that.

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Re:California passes bill that classifies gig economy worker... by mlthoughts2018 on Wednesday September 11, 2019 @09:17AM (#20939787)

Drivers do choose whether to work, just like employees do. They also choose when to be on the clock, which is the single item from your comment that can even loosely be used to argue they could be contractors. Drivers definitely don’t choose where to work, that’s dictated by the apps’ central scheduling algorithms, and only might be related to the driver’s current location, and not in any way chosen by the driver.

Choosing the route, for example, is a service the ride hailing companies rely on the driver to perform. Like an employee.

Choosing to run an errand, give me a break? You can’t be serious? Employees do that stuff all the time. That type of thing is not related to the distinction between contractor or employee.

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Re:California passes bill that classifies gig economy worker... by miracle2k on Wednesday September 11, 2019 @10:55AM (#20940824)

> Choosing to run an errand, give me a break? You can’t be serious? Employees do that stuff all the time. That type of thing is not related to the distinction between contractor or employee.

If you work, say, in a restaurant and decide you want to go pick up your laundry, expect the shift supervisor to tell you no.

Certainly some employees enjoy that flexibility, but that is entirely at the discretion of your employer.

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Re:California passes bill that classifies gig economy worker... by mlthoughts2018 on Wednesday September 11, 2019 @01:49PM (#20942814)

My sister who works as a waitress in a restaurant routinely checks in with her boss to leave for brief periods related to child care, usually around pickup/dropoff from the bus at the end of the school day. This type of arrangement is very common, even in chain stores or big retailers.

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