Peter Blanck & Paul Harpur
2020
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In a recent JOOR article [1], authors Harpur and Blanck examined gig work for people with disabilities, and we write with an important update triggered by this month’s election and related developments.
Gig work is typically performed independently, without protections aforded employees such as the chance to pur- chase benefts or receive the protections of wage regulations, occupational health and safety rules, and antidiscrimination laws. While gig workers may potentially beneft from fex- ible work schedules and conditions, their work situations are often precarious [2], and the global pandemic has further complicated their shaky position.
As the rates of gig workers with disabilities rise, some have tried to provide them employment-like protections. A recent example, California State Assembly Bill 5, efective 1 January 2020, deemed people providing labor or services for remuneration, such as gig workers, to be employees rather than independent contractors [3].
On election day this month, however, the people of California voted to overturn Assembly Bill 5 by approv- ing California Proposition 22, the “App-Based Drivers as Contractors and Labor Policies Initiative” [4]. The proposi- tion defnes app-based transportation (rideshare) and deliv- ery drivers, such as those for Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash, as independent contractors. Proposition 22 generally did not afect how the prior law was to be applied to other types of workers [4–6]. But, as one commentator has noted, “A defeat of the proposal would have emboldened other localities to approach the issue in the same way that California had, while its victory is likely to entrench the status quo.” [7].
California’s status as “a bellwether for the gig economy” [8], and the status of Proposition 22, have indeed been infu- encing regulation in the United States and abroad [6]. In Massachusetts, the state Attorney General had, pre-election, sued to enforce a 2004 state law that she says requires Uber and Lyft to treat their drivers as employees. The California proposition outcome will likely infuence whether and how the confict develops outside the judicial system [9]. In New York, the day after the election, an Uber driver fled a class action in federal court alleging that Uber drivers should be classifed as employees rather than independent contractors [10]. And the dispute is playing out in various ways in other states, including Oregon, Washington, New Jersey, and Illinois [11].
Blanck, P., Harpur, P. (2020). California’s Response to the Status of Gig Workers with Disabilities: An Update. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-020-09948-1
Keywords: employment, gig work, precarious work