App-Based Employers Do Their Best To Avoid Giving Drivers Healthcare, Other Benefits

App-Based Employers Do Their Best To Avoid Giving Drivers Healthcare, Other Benefits

Harry Wilmerding on March 8, 2022

Rideshare and food delivery companies have launched a joint campaign to fend off Democrats’ efforts to classify their workers as employees, which would allow them to form unions, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Grubhub plan to air television commercials and internet ads in the Washington, D.C., area showing workers arguing for independent contractor status rather than full-time employment, the WSJ reported.

“If I want to work 20 minutes a week, or 30 hours, I can do that,” one worker says in an ad, the WSJ reported. “When I need a day off to study for a big exam, I can do that,” another worker reportedly says.

Lawmakers in Congress have pushed legislation to remove the independent contractor title from these companies’ part-time workers, allowing them to be eligible for company benefits and to form labor unions, the WSJ reported.

These companies use the independent contractor model to lower labor costs and suppress customer fees, according to the WSJ. App-based workers, on average, reportedly spend eight hours a week on the job.

“Workers are voting with their feet and are flocking to app-based work because it gives them better work-life balance,” Kristin Sharp, the chief executive officer at Flex, an association representing the group of companies, told the WSJ. “Our big-picture goal is to ensure that people who want to be flexible can do so.”

The association said it plans to spend roughly $1 million on ads, the WSJ reported.

Labor unions argue that app-based companies like Uber and Lyft restrict the amount of hours their workers can access, making them ineligible for healthcare and other benefits, the WSJ reported.