Uber business model does not justify a new ‘independent worker’? category
http://www.epi.org/publication/uber-business-model-does-not-justify-a-new-independent-worker-category/
The claim that the immeasurability of work hours for some digital app relationships requires a third employment status other than employee or independent contractor is empirically flawed. Uber is the leading case, and Uber can and does measure the time drivers have their apps on, to the minute. Uber has a guaranteed wage program that demonstrates that hours tracking and minimum-wage obligations can be administered effectively. Uber takes disciplinary action for having a low acceptance rate, so drivers must respond quickly to ride requests or face serious consequences. Therefore, drivers are free to choose when they turn on the app but are not free to ignore the app and do personal chores when it is turned on.
A driver can be an employee regardless of whether waiting time is compensable or charged to any particular employer; just because that problem seems complicated doesnt mean we need a new category of worker. Moreover, there is an easy solution to the problem of allocating waiting time among one or more employers: the employer whose driver accepts the ride pays for the waiting time leading up to the ride.
We disagree with the proposal to deny minimum-wage and overtime protections to Uber drivers and see no need for a third employment status. Our conclusion that Uber exerts substantial controls over a drivers time while the driver is on the app also has implications for whether Uber drivers should be considered employees. Rather than pursue a legislative fix along the lines offered by Harris and Krueger, a better approach is simply to establish that Uber and Lyft drivers and similar workers are employees with all attendant rights.