Uber and Postmates lost another round in the fight against AB5, California’s law designed to reclassify gig-economy workers from contractor to employee status. A U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California rejected a motion for preliminary injunction against the law. California is not the only state ramping up the attack on independent contractors. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy recently signed five bills aimed at addressing misclassification of workers. The five bills address:
- Increased penalties and fines (A5839)
- Access to tax information by the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development (A5842)
- The issuance of Stop Work Orders if not in compliance (A5838)
- Increased Scope of Liability, including by an “officer, director, or manager” (A5840)
- Posting requirements and significant anti-retaliation provision (A5843)
Meanwhile, Meijer is tapping into the gig economy to create flexibility to meet shifting demand. They have deployed the Hyer platform/app across its 246-store system. The Hyer app is a task app similar to TaskRabbit that allows people to accept assignments for discreet tasks. It is unclear just how broadly Meijer is relying on gig workers using Hyer to handle workload versus full-time employees, but it is an interesting use of a gig-economy platform. On the flip side of the coin, Instacart workers in Skokie, IL voted to unionize. Although the majority of the Silicon Valley app’s members are independent contractors, 12,000 of them are Instacart employees known as “in-store” shoppers. They are capped at 29 hours per week and thus do not qualify for health benefits. Instacart workers have had a contentious history with the company recently, as tip and bonus structures have been modified, provoking a 3-day national strike last November.
