Prop 22:
THE GIG WORKER INITIATIVE.
Gig workers are those who work for employers without benefits or labor law protections. A classic independent contractor is a self-employed individual. For example, if I’m a lawyer and a solo practitioner, when I’m hired to represent a client, I’m not their employee; I’m an independent contractor. On the other hand, if I’m running a cab business, the drivers who work for me are my employees. If I run a restaurant doing a take out business, my cooks, cleaners, waiters, etc. are all employees. I can hire an employee to run the deliveries or I can hire a company to make the deliveries.
Prop 22 is about the individual gig workers who drive you (Uber and Lyft drivers) or who make deliveries to you (Door Dash and Instacart delivery drivers). It makes them independent contractors with certain specified benefits, not employees with an array of rights, benefits and labor law protections. What are some of the differences?
As an employee, you and your employer pay payroll taxes to the federal government for your Social Security and your Medicare when you turn 65. As an independent contractor, you pay both the employer and employee payroll taxes for Medicare and Social Security.
As an employee, your employer pays UI (Unemployment Insurance) taxes to the government. When you are laid off, you can claim and receive UI during your search for your next job. As an independent contractor/gig worker, your employer does not pay and you cannot claim UI when your job ends. (There is a one-time exception to this during this particular pandemic).
As an employee your employer pays for worker’s comp insurance. When you are hurt on the job, worker’s comp pays for your medical care and wage replacement until you are rehabbed and determined eligible to resume work. As an independent contractor, you are not covered by workers comp if you are injured on the job.
As an employee you pay for State Disability Insurance (SDI), and you are covered for wage replacement when you are disabled. As an independent contractor you are not eligible for SDI.
As an employee, you are protected by state minimum wage laws, by the 8 hour day and overtime rules. As an independent contractor, you are not.
As an employee, you are protected by the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). As an independent contractor, you are not. Same with Age Discrimination and the Families and Medical Leave Act.
Title VII race and sex discrimination laws protect employees, but not independent contractors.
The Affordable Care Act requires employers with over 50 employees to cover health insurance for their full time (30 hours a week) employees. This does not apply to their independent contractors.
Many employers pay for their employee’s annual vacation days and a certain number of sick days. These are not available for independent contractors/gig workers.
Same thing for 401k pension plans, for employee stock option plans and a myriad of other benefits tied to employment.
The Prop 22 initiative offers the following benefits in lieu of the state and federal labor law protections afforded employees: “payments for the difference between a worker's net earnings, excluding tips, and a net earnings floor based on 120% of the minimum wage applied to a driver's engaged time and 30 cents, adjusted for inflation after 2021, per engaged mile; limiting app-based drivers from working more than 12 hours during a 24-hour period, unless the driver has been logged off for an uninterrupted 6 hours; for drivers who average at least 25 hours per week of engaged time during a calendar quarter, require companies to provide healthcare subsidies equal to 82% the average Covered California (CC) premium for each month; for drivers who average between 15 and 25 hours per week of engaged time during a calendar quarter, require companies to provide healthcare subsidies equal to 41% the average CC premium for each month; require companies to provide or make available occupational accident insurance to cover at least $1 million in medical expenses and lost income resulting from injuries suffered while a driver was online (defined as when the driver is using the app and can receive service requests) but not engaged in personal activities; require the occupational accident insurance to provide disability payments of 66 percent of a driver's average weekly earnings during the previous four weeks before the injuries suffered (while the driver was online but not engaged in personal activities) for upwards of 104 weeks (about 2 years); and require companies to provide or make available accidental death insurance for the benefit of a driver's spouse, children, or other dependents when the driver dies while using the app. Proposition 22 would define a driver's engaged time as the time between accepting a service request and completing the request.”
It’s an array of benefits, but it’s unclear whether this is such a great model that we should scrap existing labor law protections for these workers. Personally, I think not and voted NO.
Prepared by: Lucien Wulsin
Dated: 10/9/20