I was at a dinner last night hosted by Button (an amazing company, go check them out!) about the on demand economy. Of course, the topic on everyone's minds and a major source of discussion was the Uber ruling.
In case you missed it, the California Labor Commissioner's office ruled that a driver for Uber was an employee and not an independent contractor. It subsequently said that Uber should pay her expenses to the tune of $4152.20. (see SFChron or NYT)
I was planning to write up my thoughts on this but at this moment, I don't think I'd write something markedly more original or thoughtful than several of the opinion pieces I've read. Instead, I'm going to present my personal roundup of the best articles and opinions on this issue:
- Manifesto for a Modern Worker Class
- Shared Security, Shared Growth
- Uber Isn't the Problem
- Vox's primer - Why is the ruling a big deal?
I also highly encourage people to read the official rulings of judges on the separate but related potential class-action cases against Uber and Lyft. You can see them at https://docsend.com/view/y4v488s and https://docsend.com/view/6spj76v.