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This shouldn’t be a big surprise because the top labor lawyer at the NLRB, Jennifer Abruzzo, indicated that she planned to review guidelines set in place by her predecessor in 2019. These had “lowered the legal threshold for employers to classify workers as independent contractors,” as Bloomberg reported.

Changing the guidelines won’t guarantee tech companies will stop classifying their workers as independent contractors, but it’d make it harder for them to do so. In fact, the NLRB could try making misclassification a violation altogether, per Bloomberg:

The general counsel’s office may push forward cases that result in a board ruling that makes it harder for companies to classify workers as contractors, something gig economy companies have been fighting with state ballot measures. In addition, Abruzzo is eyeing a change in precedent to outlaw misclassifying a worker as an independent contractor—making it an unfair labor practice in itself.

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If the NLRB went ahead and changed the guidelines, that’d be a boon for delivery and ride-hailing app drivers (and riders, too.) But if just misclassifying workers were a violation of federal labor law, it’d be a big deal. That wouldn’t just grant workers their due benefits and protections as employees, but it would also make the tech companies liable for illegal business practices. Finally.

Image for article titled Uber And Lyft Could Soon Have A Hard Time Denying Drivers Full Worker Status
Photo: Getty (Getty Images)