"Disruption" shouldn't be an excuse for exploitation.

This ruling will be overturned in court. Uber drivers work when they want and for as long as they want. They are not directed by Uber. The ratings argument is silly. Every company determines how good its contractors work is. Then they decide whether they want to use them in the future.

Are you an expert in this field?

so I suspect it is a loaded question that I will pass on. I know they disagree. The courts will not. BTW are you an "expert" in all the opinions you post here? Did not know that was a requirement...

Apparently you think you know more than experts on labor matters.

are an 'expert'. Be it for incompetence or lack of ethics, a lot of people in every area of employment get it 'wrong'.

As to the Uber case, I have no position at this time.

EDITED

I said I was not going to fall for a loaded question from you because you would shoot down anything I wrote. Did you ask the other posters if they were experts on labor matters? How could they say it was a correct ruling if they were not? There are a lot of experts in pretty much all subjects. They sometime disagree. Go into any court anyday and you find out. The real experts are the judges who will rule on this matter.

or desperation?

I know one Uber driver. His is choice.

it's desperation.

Nothing to do with Uber.

there should be no improvement anywhere?

Uber drivers are considered employees

Additionally, Uber dictates the price of the fares, the type/condition of the car and Uber collects the payments and gives the drivers a share.

Also in California, if somebody is essential to the core of the business, they are an employee, not a contractor. Uber without drivers, is an app that makes no money. Uber can insist all they want that they are a technology company, but it's a load of horseshit.

As for if it will be overturned, the 9th District Court already spanked FedEx for trying to claim that their delivery drivers were independent contractors. It's a good decision and one that will drag Uber, kicking and screaming like petulant children, into treating their employees correctly.

And that's before you get into Uber's other reprehensible practices like sabotaging competitors through a concerted effort to place phony requests for pick up and then cancelling at the last moment and smearing journalists who reported on Uber.

Incidentally this ruling applies to only the individual who brought the case and contradicts a previous ruling by the same commission.

I have no interest or bias in the decision, but it's a strange employment agreement that allows employees to work at will at any given moment and which involves no hierarchy, no interview process, no place or term of employment, no employer-provided resources and assigns work only by smartphone app. If that becomes employment, then what exactly is a contractor?

Although the ruling affects only California, the state is Uber's home base, one of its largest markets, and sets a path often followed by regulators and courts in other states.

"Assuming it’s upheld on appeal, it may be more than influential," said Thomas Wassel, a partner at Cullen and Dykman. "It will be controlling in California."

I would also mpoint out (referencing the article) that it being overturned is not a done deal either

In another case earlier this month, Uber lost a bid to force arbitration in a federal lawsuit brought in San Francisco by its drivers. Earlier this year, the same U.S. District Court rejected Uber's bid to classify its drivers as independent contractors, saying a jury would rule on their status.

Also, a state agency in Flordia (though it doesn't say which one) ruled that Uber drivers are employees

Uber's business model is the 'have it's cake and eat it too' model. Their employees don't really make the money Uber promises. There have been assaults, rapes, robberies associated with Uber drivers on passengers and Uber claims they have no liability because the drivers are independent contractors

I've heard hotels are mad at AIRBNB as well.

and safety regulations.

One of my clients is in the hotel biz. So far it hasn't impacted them much, but they aren't too pleased with airbnb not having to follow the same rules as them.

required to have adequate insurance coverage when they are off the clock (though still driving around looking for a fare), not required to have a finger-print background check, not required to have their vehicles inspected, and not required to have a handicap fleet. And surge pricing is bullshit.

There are dozens of other industries that abuse contractor status. Including my current one. This is my fourth year as a temp. Uber can go (redacted)

Time and quantity. Based on this, I also believe the decision will not hold.

when determining employee status.

Oakland cabbies were ruled employees years ago by CA courts, on similar grounds.

and therefore illegal.

Plus the liability issues are...surreal