Seattle becomes first in U.S. to protect gig workers from sudden 'deactivation'

Comments

• jeffw@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  The underlying issue is RAMPANT employee misclassification. Most of these people aren’t contractors, they are just illegally misclassified.

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• floofloof@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  gig workers are being unfairly terminated, or “deactivated,” as the companies call it.

  I, for one, loathe our new techbro overlords.

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• treefrog@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Right to work doesn’t apply to contractors. You have a contract.

  If you get deactivated without cause, sue.

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  • wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    [deleted]

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    • Arakwar@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Gig jobs with regulations are just normal job. Why do people support adding complexity to an already complex system?

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    • treefrog@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      It’s actually easy. I sued Instacart for something similar.

      Lodged a complaint with the state. Instacart asked to settle. Didn’t cost me a dime.

      They know they’re in the wrong. It’s cheaper for them to settle. Even if they have billions they don’t want a big lawsuit. If they lose a lawsuit instead of settling out of court it sets precedent that could end their whole gig economy bullshit in a big class action.

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  • tjhart85@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    'Right to work' has to do with not being required to be in a Union in order to get a job (ie, you have a right to work at a location whether you're in the union or not).

    Right to work is bullshit and definitely helped in gutting the unions, but, I'm not sure how that has to do with anything to do with gig workers at all.

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    • BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      It doesn't; this guy is just unaware of what 'right to work' means (admittedly, it's a deliberately obtuse name), and seems to have no willingness to entertain the possibility that he might not know something.

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    • treefrog@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Right to work allows employment at will. Meaning you can be fired without cause.

      My point is it doesn’t apply to contractors and deactivating someone without cause is a breach of contract.

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  • BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Right to work refers specifically to laws that make mandatory union membership illegal. It has absolutely nothing to do with at-will employment, termination, or anything relevant here.

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    • treefrog@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      It does more than that. It lets you quit and be fired at will.

      This doesn’t apply to contractors and gig jobs firing contractors without cause is a breach of contract.

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  • Hildegarde@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Washington does not have “right to work” laws.

    You are mistaken.

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    • treefrog@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Okay.

      My point was contractors cannot be fired at will, even in right to work states where regular employees can be.

      So, deactivating gig workers without cause is a breach of contract. Which you can easily sue for. And these assholes know they’re wrong, so they will want to settle out of court. You don’t even need a lawyer.

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  • czech@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Yes, use your piles of cash and unlimited time to get what you're already owed. Perfect system, you're right.

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    • treefrog@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I sued Instacart over violation of state employment laws.

      Lodged a complaint with the state and Instacart asked to settle in mediation

      Cost me nothing and I didn’t even hire a lawyer.

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  • AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    The idea of the “right to work” is bizarre to me. I am a USA citizen and it still confuses me. Isn’t our right to freedom from oppression, life, liberty, and happiness? I’m not sure how the right to work gets mixed up in there. I should be able to live happily if I work or not. Call me a commie but a strong social program (including free healthcare, free standardized education, and transit) and universal income would solve many of the issues the USA faces today. That all costs money of course but it doesn’t take an economist to see how much the USA spends on the military, and we are not even in an active war, so I think the budget could probably be finagled a little. Anyway I forgot what I was talking about, and all I’m saying is if the guy at the Wendy’s drive thru is replaced with a tablet for ordering he should still get paid.

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• porkins@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  My DoorDasher picked up my order the other day and went to a mall parking lot and sat there for an hour until the order was cancelled since DD couldn’t get ahold of them. They presumably ate it. They should be deactivated. Bad workers shouldn’t get extra protections.

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