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The Courts Transportation

California Supreme Court Upholds Gig Worker Law In a Win For Ride-Hail Companies (politico.com) 73

In a major victory for ride-hail companies, California Supreme Court upheld a law classifying gig workers as independent contractors, maintaining their ineligibility for benefits such as sick leave and workers' compensation. This decision concludes a prolonged legal battle and supports the 2020 ballot measure Proposition 22, despite opposition from labor groups who argued it was unconstitutional. Politico reports: Thursday's ruling capped a yearslong battle between labor and the companies over the status of workers who are dispatched by apps to deliver food, buy groceries and transport customers. A 2018 Supreme Court ruling and a follow-up bill would have compelled the gig companies to treat those workers as employees. A collection of five firms then spent more than $200 million to escape that mandate by passing the 2020 ballot measure Proposition 22 in one of the most expensive political campaigns in American history. The unanimous ruling on Thursday now upholds the status quo of the gig economy in California.

As independent contractors, gig workers are not entitled to benefits like sick leave, overtime and workers' compensation. The SEIU union and four gig workers, ultimately, challenged Prop 22 based on its conflict with the Legislature's power to administer workers' compensation, specifically. The law, which passed with 58 percent of the vote in 2020, makes gig workers ineligible for workers' comp, which opponents of Prop 22 argued rendered the entire law unconstitutional. [...] Beyond the implications for gig workers, the heavily-funded Prop 22 ballot campaign pushed the limits of what could be spent on an initiative, ultimately becoming the most expensive measure in California history. Uber and Lyft have both threatened to leave any states that pass laws not classifying their drivers as independent contractors. The decision Thursday closes the door to that possibility for California.

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California Supreme Court Upholds Gig Worker Law In a Win For Ride-Hail Companies

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  • mc now hiring pay 20% commission only!

    • by kenh ( 9056 ) on Thursday July 25, 2024 @09:00PM (#64656328) Homepage Journal

      McD is now paying $20/hr in CA, but you knew that, right?

      • Are doing it because they can't do anything else. You get people with various disabilities for one thing. There is also a ton of illegal immigrants as well as a booming industry getting them fake IDs to sign up with. And of course you've got people doing it on top of their regular job so they can afford rent that month. You can't really work fast food as a second job too much anymore because they want you on call.

        Basically Uber is exploiting a bunch of desperate workers in bad situations. If you think t
  • It looks to me like a win for people who want to define the terms of their work without government interference.

    • by Waffle Iron ( 339739 ) on Thursday July 25, 2024 @09:28PM (#64656392)

      The only people defining these particular terms are the CxOs of Uber and Lyft. I'm sure very few drivers are saying "I prefer to have a job without any benefits. I'd rather see those funds go towards executive bonuses."

      • by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Friday July 26, 2024 @04:33AM (#64656806)

        I'm sure very few drivers are saying "I prefer to have a job without any benefits.

        The difference between a contractor and an employee is much more than "one has benefits and the other doesn't."

        Contractors are generally paid more, have more freedom to choose their working hours, and can work for more than one company (both Uber and Lyft, in this case).

        If they want a traditional company-employee relationship, with a boss looking over their shoulder, there are plenty of those jobs to choose from. But that's not what gig work is.

        • The difference between a contractor and an employee is much more than "one has benefits and the other doesn't."

          Contractors are generally paid more, have more freedom to choose their working hours, and can work for more than one company (both Uber and Lyft, in this case).

          If they want a traditional company-employee relationship, with a boss looking over their shoulder, there are plenty of those jobs to choose from. But that's not what gig work is.

          You conveniently ignore all the parts of a contractor that are *not* offered by gig economy. E.g. ability to set your own wages, or define your own terms of work. When Uber stops grading its *employees* (as defined by many laws in different countries despite what they managed to do with Prop 22 in California), when it stops setting conditions of their car and setting their rates for them, then you can start calling them contractors.

          But since we don't fit into either category properly let's just agree to cre

  • If people want an overpriced ride driven by an overpaid worker, they can just call a regular Taxi. Uber/Lyft became popular for one reason and one reason only, because they offer rides that are CHEAP(er). Take that out of the equation, and we're back at square one. Might as well paint their cars yellow.
    • by kenh ( 9056 ) on Thursday July 25, 2024 @08:59PM (#64656324) Homepage Journal

      I don't think the ride-hail services are actually cheaper than taxis anymore, it's just easier to use an app instead of trying to find a cab on your own...

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        That was the whole point. Use VC funds to undercut the taxi companies and put them out of business. Now you're the only game in town with no competition.

        • That was the whole point. Use VC funds to undercut the taxi companies and put them out of business. Now you're the only game in town with no competition.

          *looks at downtown San Francisco*

          It would appear that Californias political tactics related to driving business out of town, worked a little too well. And I’m pretty certain that wasn’t the point. Or the goal. You get what you vote for.

        • Use VC funds to undercut the taxi companies

          Only about a third of rideshare business came from taxis.

          Much of it came from people using it as an alternative to renting a car, driving their own car, or taking public transit.

          Before ridesharing, I rented a car at the airport when on a business trip. Now, I use Lyft. There's no way I'd rely on taxis.

      • I don't think the ride-hail services are actually cheaper than taxis anymore, it's just easier to use an app instead of trying to find a cab on your own...

        Convenience being sold under the guise of a bargain? Why do I have this weird feeling there’s an app for that..

      • "it's just easier to use an app instead of trying to find a cab on your own"

        In civilized parts of the world, you can use a ride hailing app and you get a real taxi.

        • Regulations. IIRC, it was NYC that banned on-line cab hailing. Web-based at the time, because apps were not really a thing at that time.

          All in the name of equality and "leveling the playing field". Because po' folks didn't have the same access to the Internet.

      • I don't think the ride-hail services are actually cheaper than taxis anymore, it's just easier to use an app instead of trying to find a cab on your own...

        Depends on where you are. In many places there's still a huge difference. Where I live (in Europe) Uber is about 1/2 the cost of a taxi, and critically since taxis are regulated only by requirement to register that you carry passengers professionally, literally all public taxi drivers are also Uber drivers. You call an Uber there's a 90% chance a taxi will be at your doorstep, just charging a lower rate than the meter.

        It goes both ways though. If something goes wrong and surcharge pricing kicks in, taxis ar

    • Looking at the other side of the equation, if you want to drive, have guaranteed pay, benefits, medical insurance, etc. then get a job with a taxi company.

      As others have pointed out, the distinction between ride shares and taxi services is rapidly vanishing. Prices are nearly the same, drivers are regulated (background checks, etc.). The primary difference is that in places with cab medalions, the market is artificially restricted to create artificial property (the medallion) for the benefit of some invest

  • by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Thursday July 25, 2024 @10:02PM (#64656446)

    These companies spent a legitimate fortune on prop 22. https://abc7.com/22-california... [abc7.com]

  • Social stability (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Thursday July 25, 2024 @10:12PM (#64656456)

    Having a class of people who can't afford health care and scramble for whatever job they can find at whatever terms are offered just to slow their decent into abject poverty is...

    Well, it's your society, you make the rules with every vote. But I have to tell you, most of the rest of the industrialized Western world has realized exploiting the poor is not only wrong but in the long term results in bad outcomes for the society that does it.

    America's rich, what's wrong with making sure everyone (and their children) has access to an education and reasonable health care so they don't have to be serfs desperate for a lord to care for them? You can afford it.

    • Most European countries' willingness to pay for social welfare is strongly correlated to how white that country is.

    • America's rich... You can afford it.

      Questionable assumption for a country with $40 trillion in debt.

    • Well, it's your society, you make the rules with every vote.

      Really? Districts can be redrawn at will. The media is a fully owned propaganda device. Schools have not encouraged critical thinking even once during my entire lifetime.

      Your vote doesn't matter because there are thousands that are hoodwinked and bamboozled for every voter that tries to vote their conscience.

      You do not matter. I do not matter. The only thing that matters is who has the levers to pull to create a society that votes against its own interests.

  • by NotEmmanuelGoldstein ( 6423622 ) on Friday July 26, 2024 @07:00AM (#64656962)

    ... classifying their drivers as independent contractors.

    Lots of businesses use independent workers. That isn't a problem and a law saying it is, is kinda destructive.

    No, the problem is, those corporations using 'leverage' to treat contractors as employees. If the government wanted to help, they would assist those sole traders litigate against mega-corporations for breach of contract and unfair dismissal. At the very least, they would demand record-keeping (Eg. business e-mails) and increase the penalties for misbehaviour. Once again, the government fails to protect the most vulnerable, and this time, for getting a job.

  • Overhwhelmingly, "gig workers", aka "independent contractors", is a scam run by MBAs who don't want to pay benefits, decent wages, and, oh, they can't form unions.

  • Prop 22 is a compromise kludge to fix the absurd union-sponsored anti-gig worker law the California Politburo had decreed. The whole law should have been thrown out, not just adding some exceptions to whoever had deep enough pockets to sponsor an initiative. Surprised the Calif Supreme Soviet did not throw out the prop, like they did the one making it harder to pass taxes without voter approval.

  • I think it's quite obvious that we should simply have a new category for these 'gig economy' workers. They are not classical payrolled employees, they are also nor real 'contract workers'. They are something else. This is fine - but we should really think about what protection and rights we should guarantee them, too. Because no protections at all seems like too little. But full employee rights is too much.

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