SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
Kasey St. John connects with a Lyft driver at the rideshare lot at Los Angeles International Airport on August 20, 2020 in Los Angeles. (Photo: Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
The millions of workers whose labor is central to the success of large companies like Uber and Lyft will have more protections and rights under a new rule proposed Tuesday by the Biden administration, which takes aim at corporations that misclassify workers as independent contractors.
U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh announced the administration's proposed rule, which would establish a "multifactor, totality-of-the-circumstances" framework under the Federal Labor Standards Act to determine whether a worker is truly an independent contractor--a status which exempts people from minimum wage and overtime laws as well as tax contributions from their employers.
"Misclassification deprives workers of their federal labor protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages."
Under the proposed framework, when classifying people as employees or independent contractors, companies would be required to consider whether the work being performed is essential to their business and whether a worker has to make large investments--such as buying and maintaining equipment--in order to do their job.
The Labor Department said the rule would restore a standard that was originally proposed by the Obama administration and which federal courts have upheld despite former Republican President Donald Trump's weakening of the rule.
"While independent contractors have an important role in our economy, we have seen in many cases that employers misclassify their employees as independent contractors, particularly among our nation's most vulnerable workers," said Walsh. "Misclassification deprives workers of their federal labor protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages."
Under Trump, employers were directed to consider the extent to which they controlled how a worker performs their job and whether a worker has the opportunity to control how much they earn rather than just earning a steady wage.
Companies including Uber and Lyft have aggressively lobbied to be able to classify more of their workers as independent contractors. After California lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 5 in 2019, classifying at least a million workers in the gig economy as employees, the companies spent about $200 million to pass a ballot measure to limit benefits for the workers their business models rely on and exempt them from employee status.
The proposed rule "could bring an end to gig companies' exploitation of millions of workers," said national economic justice group Jobs With Justice.
"All work has value, all workers deserve fair compensation and legal protections from exploitation on the job," said Council 4 AFSCME, a union of 30,000 state and local government workers affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in response to the rule.
The Labor Department's announcement follows an executive order signed by President Joe Biden to require federal contractors to pay a minimum of $15 per hour, his vocal support of union organizers at Amazon, and his push for an infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act, which are expected to create hundreds of thousands of union jobs.
"In rules, orders, and appointments," said Institute for Policy Studies associate fellow Michael Paarlberg after the gig economy rule was announced, Biden "is miles ahead of any past Democratic president in a generation."
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
The millions of workers whose labor is central to the success of large companies like Uber and Lyft will have more protections and rights under a new rule proposed Tuesday by the Biden administration, which takes aim at corporations that misclassify workers as independent contractors.
U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh announced the administration's proposed rule, which would establish a "multifactor, totality-of-the-circumstances" framework under the Federal Labor Standards Act to determine whether a worker is truly an independent contractor--a status which exempts people from minimum wage and overtime laws as well as tax contributions from their employers.
"Misclassification deprives workers of their federal labor protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages."
Under the proposed framework, when classifying people as employees or independent contractors, companies would be required to consider whether the work being performed is essential to their business and whether a worker has to make large investments--such as buying and maintaining equipment--in order to do their job.
The Labor Department said the rule would restore a standard that was originally proposed by the Obama administration and which federal courts have upheld despite former Republican President Donald Trump's weakening of the rule.
"While independent contractors have an important role in our economy, we have seen in many cases that employers misclassify their employees as independent contractors, particularly among our nation's most vulnerable workers," said Walsh. "Misclassification deprives workers of their federal labor protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages."
Under Trump, employers were directed to consider the extent to which they controlled how a worker performs their job and whether a worker has the opportunity to control how much they earn rather than just earning a steady wage.
Companies including Uber and Lyft have aggressively lobbied to be able to classify more of their workers as independent contractors. After California lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 5 in 2019, classifying at least a million workers in the gig economy as employees, the companies spent about $200 million to pass a ballot measure to limit benefits for the workers their business models rely on and exempt them from employee status.
The proposed rule "could bring an end to gig companies' exploitation of millions of workers," said national economic justice group Jobs With Justice.
"All work has value, all workers deserve fair compensation and legal protections from exploitation on the job," said Council 4 AFSCME, a union of 30,000 state and local government workers affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in response to the rule.
The Labor Department's announcement follows an executive order signed by President Joe Biden to require federal contractors to pay a minimum of $15 per hour, his vocal support of union organizers at Amazon, and his push for an infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act, which are expected to create hundreds of thousands of union jobs.
"In rules, orders, and appointments," said Institute for Policy Studies associate fellow Michael Paarlberg after the gig economy rule was announced, Biden "is miles ahead of any past Democratic president in a generation."
The millions of workers whose labor is central to the success of large companies like Uber and Lyft will have more protections and rights under a new rule proposed Tuesday by the Biden administration, which takes aim at corporations that misclassify workers as independent contractors.
U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh announced the administration's proposed rule, which would establish a "multifactor, totality-of-the-circumstances" framework under the Federal Labor Standards Act to determine whether a worker is truly an independent contractor--a status which exempts people from minimum wage and overtime laws as well as tax contributions from their employers.
"Misclassification deprives workers of their federal labor protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages."
Under the proposed framework, when classifying people as employees or independent contractors, companies would be required to consider whether the work being performed is essential to their business and whether a worker has to make large investments--such as buying and maintaining equipment--in order to do their job.
The Labor Department said the rule would restore a standard that was originally proposed by the Obama administration and which federal courts have upheld despite former Republican President Donald Trump's weakening of the rule.
"While independent contractors have an important role in our economy, we have seen in many cases that employers misclassify their employees as independent contractors, particularly among our nation's most vulnerable workers," said Walsh. "Misclassification deprives workers of their federal labor protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages."
Under Trump, employers were directed to consider the extent to which they controlled how a worker performs their job and whether a worker has the opportunity to control how much they earn rather than just earning a steady wage.
Companies including Uber and Lyft have aggressively lobbied to be able to classify more of their workers as independent contractors. After California lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 5 in 2019, classifying at least a million workers in the gig economy as employees, the companies spent about $200 million to pass a ballot measure to limit benefits for the workers their business models rely on and exempt them from employee status.
The proposed rule "could bring an end to gig companies' exploitation of millions of workers," said national economic justice group Jobs With Justice.
"All work has value, all workers deserve fair compensation and legal protections from exploitation on the job," said Council 4 AFSCME, a union of 30,000 state and local government workers affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in response to the rule.
The Labor Department's announcement follows an executive order signed by President Joe Biden to require federal contractors to pay a minimum of $15 per hour, his vocal support of union organizers at Amazon, and his push for an infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act, which are expected to create hundreds of thousands of union jobs.
"In rules, orders, and appointments," said Institute for Policy Studies associate fellow Michael Paarlberg after the gig economy rule was announced, Biden "is miles ahead of any past Democratic president in a generation."