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Uber Drivers Are Contractors, Not Employees, Labor Board Says

nytimes.com

141–150 of 357 posts

Re: Uber Drivers Are Contractors, Not Employees, Labor Board Says

#141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Deregulate the health insurance market so you can sell across state lines. 2. Employers start giving their employees the money they pay on their behalf. 3. People shop for the health insurance they want/need. In a year, every other advertisement on TV would be for health insurance, like it is with car insurance now.

> 1. Deregulate the health insurance market so you can sell across state lines. I've always found this suggestion a bit disingenuous. First, there is no federal law that bans insurance from being sold across state lines. What they really mean (but can't say because it is not politically appealing) is "Don't allow states to regulate insurance sold in their state." State boards regulate insurance. They seem to do it we…

I don't live in America, but having strong opinions is fun so I'll wade in anyway :D

The things you are talking about are regulatory standards. I've not seen anyone really suggesting that regulatory standards are a problem in the Americas (on the contrary, everything I've read suggests if you have in insurance the whole process can be pretty comfortable).

gp's post is, in my eyes, clearly going towards the point that people should be choosing their own insurers, rather than their employers choosing insurers (on employees behalf). It seems like common sense to me that an individual will be better at choosing a healthcare provider than their employer.

The idea that healthcare benefits are a factor to consider when choosing an employer is bizarre. The only reason to link the two is because Americans enjoy being different. And strangely anti-individual-choice in this instance. That dynamic is an obvious perversion of the market to deregulate.

Re: Uber Drivers Are Contractors, Not Employees, Labor Board Says

#142

So do we need a middle type of worker at this point?

^^This is an incredibly important argument. Many Companies would love a middle road, as well as employees. The funniest part is that most "good" companies already operate on a performance basis. It should be considered

Re: Uber Drivers Are Contractors, Not Employees, Labor Board Says

#143
post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. Deregulate the health insurance market so you can sell across state lines. I've always found this suggestion a bit disingenuous. First, there is no federal law that bans insurance from being sold across state lines. What they really mean (but can't say because it is not politically appealing) is "Don't allow states to regulate insurance sold in their state." State boards regulate insurance. They seem to do it we…

I don't live in America, but having strong opinions is fun so I'll wade in anyway :D The things you are talking about are regulatory standards. I've not seen anyone really suggesting that regulatory standards are a problem in the Americas (on the contrary, everything I've read suggests if you have in insurance the whole process can be pretty comfortable). gp's post is, in my eyes, clearly going towards the point that…

> I've not seen anyone really suggesting that regulatory standards are a problem in the Americas

This was a major component of Trump's platform, and where the "selling insurance across state lines" thing comes from.

Re: Uber Drivers Are Contractors, Not Employees, Labor Board Says

#144
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You treat your lawn care person and maid as employees? I guess if they are full time. My lawn care is completely contractor based- they provide tools, they set schedule, they don’t have a uniform set by me. They are exactly contractors. Same with my maid. If I for some reason had an estate that required employee Lawncare this would be different and I would hire someone. There’s a definition from the IRS in the US for…

Many people do not follow this, but https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employe... > You have a household employee if you hired someone to do household work and that worker is your employee. The worker is your employee if you can control not only what work is done, but how it is done. If the worker is your employee, it does not matter whether the work is full time or part time or that you hired the w…

> The worker is your employee if you can control not only what work is done, but how it is done.

What does 'how it is done' mean?

If I ask a gardener to prune a bush he's a contractor, but if I have a conversation with him about how I want him to prune it is he then suddenly an employee?

Seems like it's very easy to accidentally make someone an employee by requesting they do something in a particular way.

Re: Uber Drivers Are Contractors, Not Employees, Labor Board Says

#145
post #23

It’s sad that the idea of people being able to get by and live a comfortable life without the benefits from a full time job is so far outside the Overton window that it’s not even mentioned in these conversations. That seems like such an obviously better outcome for everyone - what if we got rid of healthcare benefits and other types of favorable tax treatment that are tied to full time employment so that everyone is…

1. Deregulate the health insurance market so you can sell across state lines. 2. Employers start giving their employees the money they pay on their behalf. 3. People shop for the health insurance they want/need. In a year, every other advertisement on TV would be for health insurance, like it is with car insurance now.

The big insurance companies already are multi-state. Transparent provider pricing and reference-based pricing are a regulatory solution that allows free markets to do their magic.

Re: Uber Drivers Are Contractors, Not Employees, Labor Board Says

#146
post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. Deregulate the health insurance market so you can sell across state lines. I've always found this suggestion a bit disingenuous. First, there is no federal law that bans insurance from being sold across state lines. What they really mean (but can't say because it is not politically appealing) is "Don't allow states to regulate insurance sold in their state." State boards regulate insurance. They seem to do it we…

I don't live in America, but having strong opinions is fun so I'll wade in anyway :D The things you are talking about are regulatory standards. I've not seen anyone really suggesting that regulatory standards are a problem in the Americas (on the contrary, everything I've read suggests if you have in insurance the whole process can be pretty comfortable). gp's post is, in my eyes, clearly going towards the point that…

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Re: Uber Drivers Are Contractors, Not Employees, Labor Board Says

#147
post #64

Relying on corporations to help the lower middle class, is an outdated idea. Corporations are expressly designed to create value at the lowest possible cost, which necessarily means minimizing labor expenses. Relying on corporations to achieve universal healthcare and a living wage, is expressly going against what they were designed for. There is a far better way to help the lower middle class: through the government…

Europe already does this, to a reasonable extent. So do most developed countries (Japan, Australia, for example).

It's really the US that lags behind in almost all aspects of taking care of its citizens.

Re: Uber Drivers Are Contractors, Not Employees, Labor Board Says

#148
post #26
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>They offered a rate, people were capable of consenting to the terms while accounting for expenses See, on party here has a lot more data on said expenses, and all the incentives in the world to be misleading about them. The existing demand was not "true" under the reasonable assumption that nobody wants to work for less than minimum wage after expenses.

There are definitely people who are willing to work below minimum wage. It's actually quantifiable if you look at the workforce reduction after minimum wage hikes in locales.

It's not that simple. No one can agree if a given minimum wage increase results in a workforce reduction, and if it does by how much. There is no consensus here, which probably means at the minimum wage increases we've seen, the effect is negligible.

Re: Uber Drivers Are Contractors, Not Employees, Labor Board Says

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US constitution is, like all other written law, mostly meaningless, given enough time. If you don’t like it, changed it: they’re called amendments.

We don't need one in this case. The Commerce Clause in Article I gives the federal government the right to regulate interstate trade.

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Re: Uber Drivers Are Contractors, Not Employees, Labor Board Says

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is quiet shocking to see #1 getting posted over and over again. How is that supposed to solve the pricing problem? How do you like pricing of say Comcast, Apple or any other company with pricing power? They offer services accross all states. I think it is way past time that we stop offering cute free market solutions to our disasterous healthcare industry. Medicare for All or gtfo.

> It is quiet shocking to see #1 getting posted over and over again. Yup. If anything, it'd make things substantially worse. There's a reason all the credit card companies moved to Delaware - they found the most favorable jurisdiction (and work to ensure it stays that way). Health insurers would love to all move to the most insurer-friendly jurisdiction.

Wrong. Everyone incorporates in Delaware because the Court of Chancery[1] has some of the most professional and consistent judges in the country. Both parties know what the judge is going to decide before it ever gets to trial, which makes reaching settlements and thus saving money far easier. A good businessman can work within the constraints of virtually any consistently applied set of rules. It's when court cases become roulette games that massive inefficiencies arise.

[1] https://courts.delaware.gov/chancery/

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