HN will make snarky comments about doing no evil and avoid reading the part where the NLRB forced their hand by classifying worker protection of subcontractors as de-facto employee status. Good job NLRB.
That case could still be appealed and overruled. And then it could go to the Supreme Court, which would likely take years to resolve. Better to be safe than sorry, rather than hope that the case will stand.
It also doesn't fix the problem where a number of contractors sue you even if they might be wrong. It could very easily be a class action lawsuit like the one that cost Microsoft a lot of money. They could use those rules as a start and then throw a few other things together such that Google thinks it might have a problem in court and wants to settle rather than risk getting sued by every single contractor.
There are two things in the article: the NLRB rule (temporarily paused) and a bargaining order from an Administrative Law Judge who said Google is a joint employer for a particular group of contractors under NLRB case law.
The NLRB makes nearly all its law via adjudication, not rules. The aggressive interpretation of joint employer is what is causing companies to put up walls between employees and contractors so they don’t get swept up by the NLRB.
