Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

There are many types of work outside of Tech and Gig-worker (the two that most comments here focus on) in which workers are inappropriately classified as contractors in order to reduce carried risk and cost to the employer, but where the employer also exerts significant control over the time, place and manner in which the work is done.

My own familiarity with this (through family who have experienced it) is in the healthcare field, where new graduates who are hungry for experience have little leverage vs established employers, and don't push the issue of how they are incorrectly classified as contractors.

Their only alternative would be to report the misclassification to state employment authorities, but again, they are often not in a position to make that worthwhile.



I was talking with someone recently, and they told me that all new Kaiser doctors are contractors. I was shocked. I don't know if it is true. If it is, I hope this decision reverses that trend. Can you imagine coming out of medical school, passing the boards, doing your time as a slave as some hospital, to get an offer as a contractor? And all that, with an amazing amount of debt, that you assumed you could pay off easily, but now you're not so sure? Wow.


AFAIK (have a friends who are Kaiser docs), they are employees, and eventually partners, of the Kaiser Medical Group (a distinct business entity from Kaiser Permanente the nonprofit health system, that contracts exclusively with it), which comes with excellent benefits - including large home loans that are forgiven after several years of service and a generous pension. Perhaps they contract out some hyperspecialist roles.

But neither of those scenarios is really comparable to the ones low wage contract workers find themselves in.


I'm glad to hear that.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: