When it comes to the gig economy, all eyes will be on Massachusetts over the next several months. A legal debate is underway there as the result of a ballot initiative on how to classify gig economy workers, and it’s possibly headed for a vote this fall.
The issue is how to categorize gig workers—as independent contractors, employees, or agents—under Massachusetts labor law. This initiative is similar to the recent independent contractor law in California, and it’s something that all states are expected to address in the coming years. Here are some of the major takeaways from this ongoing discussion.
WHY CATEGORIZATION MATTERS TO THE GIG ECONOMY
At the heart of this legal debate is a rather straightforward question: How should gig workers be categorized? For the most part, companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash want their workers categorized as independent contractors rather than employees. Some unions and those on the other side of the debate want gig workers categorized as employees of the companies for which they perform services, while a majority of gig workers prefer to maintain their status as independent contractors.
The debate over the legal definition of work and employees is nothing new: Employment law discussions go back more than a century. But the gig economy is a different beast, in part because of the dependence that exists between workers and the companies for which they operate. It blurs the lines between employee and independent contractor. As the legal...
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