Much ink has been spilled over the “gig economy” and courts and the legislature are getting into the action as well. The new work model in which individuals provide services, supposedly at their own direction, for corporations and small businesses which serve as online marketplaces that connect these service providers with clientele is in the news and in many states on its litigation dockets. Proponents, on one hand, point toward benefits that workers greatly desire, including flexible schedules for the Millennial generation, in particular and a sense of entrepreneurship for the visionary. Critics, on the other, point toward entitlements and protections that these workers do not enjoy, including basic minimum wages, health care and other benefits traditionally associated with an employment relationship.
Indeed, a recent article in The New Yorker cast light on the extreme and perverse incentives visited upon these “entrepreneurs.”1 The article focused on Lyft—a ride-sharing smartphone app—and its use of promotional materials that congratulated a pregnant driver who continued to pick up rides on her way to the hospital while going into labor.2 The campaign failed to acknowledge that, when the woman arrived at the hospital, she would not be covered under any Lyft-sponsored health care plan, nor would she enjoy a statutory right to return to work under the Family Medical Leave Act or a state or local cognate.3 In that light, it seems more likely that this woman was motivated by concerns about the basic welfare of herself and her child and not her “entrepreneurial spirit.”4 The article correctly concludes that this is not the kind of conduct that should be celebrated, but instead we should be closely questioning the system that places workers in such precarious situations solely to the benefit of Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley tech companies and their shareholders.
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