Lyft Inc., Uber Technologies Inc., and DoorDash Inc.‘s pledges to cover employees’ abortion travel stops short of including the thousands of drivers, shoppers, and delivery staff who make up the majority of their workforce.
Gig economy companies, some even before the Supreme Court overturned nationwide abortion protections, said they’d help pregnant workers travel to get the procedure as an employee benefit.
But that pledge excludes drivers—who generally don’t receive health insurance because the companies classify them as independent contractors. Lyft, DoorDash, and Uber told Bloomberg Law that they’ll only cover abortion travel for employees. TaskRabbit, which said in June it would pay for employees to travel for an abortion, didn’t respond to a request for comment about whether that pledge includes drivers.
A growing number of these workers are female, especially in delivery. DoorDash last fall reported that more than half of its delivery drivers are women. Uber Eats saidthat its female workforce grew by 80% in the first three quarters of 2021.
“They’re at a crossroads,” said Shelley Alpern, director of corporate engagement at Rhia Ventures, a nonprofit focused on expanding reproductive healthcare. “They can either make an exception or they can reclassify the workers.”
As independent contractors, drivers often don’t receive health...
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