Listen to this articleThe judgment by a hearing officer from the California Labor Commission in the case of involving an Uber driver is poor public policy. According to the statement of this judgment, the driver must be ranked as a contractor or an employee and it is too important for Uber and to all companies that are using the same business model. Keeping a large number of employees is most expensive than keeping a large number of contractors, so classifying drivers from selected companies as employees would reflect negative impact on the economy of Uber and on most other specific services.
It is also considered that this judgment is not helping everyone, but it has one positive sign. It blinks a light on how an antiquated lawmaking can reflect negative expanses and considerations applying to new business models. It also indicates the importance of extensive update in our oldest employment laws. These kinds of laws should be amended to meet the today’s need in growing economies for businesses, public and workers. This judgment attracted a lot of media attention and it is most important keeping in mind that it has very short legal effect. It basically applied for only one targeted driver. This judgment is now on appeal and it will take a considerable amount of time. On appeal, the hearing court would review it and this case would be the first one, but it is expected that there would be no difference in the judgment of hearing officer. Point to be noted that the judgment of the hearing officer has no precedential value within or outside California.
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