Ever since Uber and Lyft successfully bankrolled Proposition 22 in California, a ballot measure that carved gig workers out of traditional employment and all the rights and protections it conveys, those companies and others have been trying to replicate the victory in other states. They’ve followed a similar model in each place, crafting legislation or ballot measures that would deem rideshare and delivery drivers exempt from employee status but purport to offer them other benefits.
Now Uber, Lyft, and a coalition of large corporations are expanding their quest to rope off their workers from labor laws, and it’s dramatically more ambitious. With the backing of the Coalition for Workforce Innovation, a lobbying group made up of not just app companies but household names like Google, Kroger, and Target, Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and Republican Reps. Elise Stefanik and Michelle Steel introduced legislation, the Worker Flexibility and Choice Act, in late July that wouldn’t just help Uber and Lyft treat their drivers as independent contractors, but exempt virtually any American worker from minimum wage and overtime protections.
This federal foray goes far beyond the state-level bargains these companies had attempted to eke out. The legislation would deem any worker who signed a so-called “worker flexibility agreement” to be an independent contractor for...
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