Of course companies are going to act in their best interest. But this ruling does not change that, because companies have been acting in their best interest all along.
If anything, this makes it easier for contractors to prove they ought to be employees.
Well, you've rehashed what I said -- That was meant to be to all the people wondering how this ruling would affect companies like Uber/Lyft/other gig economy companies.
The answer is it won't affect them, because they'll do what it takes legally to act in their best interest, like they have always done (and have had way more resources than the average worker to do). So nothing will change, outside of a likely reduction in lawsuits for companies most able to navigate the new legal climate.
The answer is it won't affect them, because they'll do what it takes legally to act in their best interest
But how does that follow? You're essentially saying that no law can ever affect them, since they'll always "do what it takes legally to act in their best interest".
I didn't say no law, I was remarking in the very specific context of this one.
What I was trying to say is that this legislation is unlikely to affect the most successful gig economy companies very much, if at all, because they'll likely find the best way to circumvent it. Even if they don't there's already very large corporations doing their best not to pay employees higher wages by taking advantage of the differences in protection for part-time and full-time classified workers.
Basically, the most upside I see for the worker with this legislation is every driver in a company like Uber needing to become an "employee". Let's assume that happens. I would expect Uber or any of the other companies to immediately take steps to reconfigure to evade this -- which I think in the "worst" (for the company, as in they weren't able to evade well) case is accepting employees but limiting them to part-time status -- it's already worked very well for companies like Walmart (and badly for the communities and workers there).
On the other hand, there is also an upside for Uber/gig economy companies -- the reduction in risk in the legal arena makes them much more attractive as an investment. Up until now, it's been an open question -- this will do much to close it. That benefit will ripple to the other lesser gig economy companies, because they will have a playbook to follow.
I got that you were talking about this law, but what I was missing was what you thought made this particular law different than others which would affect them. Now I think it's clearer.
That said, I'm not sure I agree that part-time wouldn't be that bad. It works for Walmart because their employees have low fixed costs for working (essentially just the commuting), so working fewer hours is still worthwhile.
But Uber depends on drivers buying new cars, which often they pay off by driving many hours per day. Once you limit that, they will lose everyone except the casual drivers.
The alternatives I see to this are not great for Uber: they either have to (1) buy and maintain their own fleet, or (2) accept competition so that drivers can fill up their daily schedule by working for multiple companies.
Hmnn, I think the fixed costs are only higher if you assume that most Uber drivers buy new cars to Uber -- is that true? If they don't then the fixed costs for an Uber/Lyft driver would be even lower than Walmart right?
I definitely agree with the rest of your comment -- but I think the affects of (1) and (2) might actually be net positives for Uber:
(1) More fleet for their self-driving efforts seem like not a bad thing, also I don't really want to do the numbers but the 10k spent in a year on the cars as capital instead of employee benefits might look at lot better on a balance sheet (especially tax wise).
(2) I think this is only true if the supply stays the same as now -- when people hear "oh uber pays more now", I think the supply might increase a little. The increased cost per worker will be spread over all the competition, and as long as the per-worker cost isn't too high for part-time vs contractor.
As an aside to all this, uber has also started (long ago?) charging people what it thinks they can afford so that's also a factor, it's not even a single consistent percentage anymore (if it ever was).
I think most buy/lease new cars, but it might be outdated; I think Uber used to have more restricted rules on the age of cars, but it seems nowadays they can be 10-15 years old.
(1) "10k spent in a year on the cars as capital instead of employee benefits" - Right, but nowadays they are spending on neither :)
(2) Right, but that means Uber can't take over the market. That's a pretty big blow.
If anything, this makes it easier for contractors to prove they ought to be employees.