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Uber Drivers 'Employees' For Unemployment Purposes, New York Labor Board Says (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: New York City's largest taxi driver advocacy group is hailing a legal decision by the New York State Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, which ruled last Friday that three out-of-work Uber drivers can be considered employees for the purpose of unemployment benefits. The decision was first reported Thursday by Politico. In other words, three men -- and possibly other "similarly situated" Uber drivers who had quit over low pay or who were deactivated from the Uber platform -- can get paid. "The decision means that New York Uber drivers can file for unemployment insurance and likely receive it," Veena Dubal, a labor law professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, emailed Ars. "Uber may appeal the decision to state court, but for now, it's good law."
Make it difficult enough for people to engage in commerce legally and this is what you get. If government law or regulation where sufficient to direct human behavior, there'd be no war on drugs.
Personally I don't mind if Uber wants to have independent contractors, but I think the real sticking point is letting them set their own prices. As much as Uber wants to think they're the good guys in all of this, I think they'd be much better off if they just acted as a way to connect drivers and passengers. The technology that enables Uber to begin with would make it ridiculously easy for both drivers and consumers to negotiate their own rates. This would allow drivers to earn better wages and allow customers to spend more or less as they desire.