In recent years, few industries have been subjected to more new regulations than the gig economy. States, cities, and even the federal government have piled new requirements on app-based companies and the independent contractors who provide services through them.
But that trend may have finally reached its limit. A recent string of court decisions have checked some of the more aggressive attempts to regulate gig work. The lesson for lawmakers is that established legal rules still apply to new industries.
Cities and states have been targeting gig work for years. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, places like New York City and Seattle were experimenting with pay mandates and bargaining requirements. California went further, adopting the strictest worker-classification law in the country. Although ostensibly aimed at worker classification across multiple industries, the law’s real target was gig work.
That trend accelerated during the pandemic. Seattle adopted multiple new regulations purportedly grounded in the public health emergency, including a premium pay ordinance. Ballot initiatives in Bellingham, Washington and Portland, Maine proposed strict tests to reclassify gig workers. And other cities adopted new rules regulating the...
STERLING, Ill. (Rockford News First/KWQC) - Following uproar over a decision to euthanize a dog, attorneys for Whiteside County Animal Control Director James Garcia launch an investigation for a p...