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National Employment Law Project
90 Broad Street, Suite 1100, New York, NY 10004
The ABC test presumes a worker is an employee unless: (A) the worker is free from the employer’s direction and control, (B) the work is outside of the “usual course” of the employer’s business, and (C) the worker is engaged in an independent trade, occupation, or business. It exists in some form in over half of the states’ unemployment insurance laws, but also is used in wage and hour laws. Some states have passed specialized laws that employ the test in certain sectors. This US map shows where the test is used.
Increasingly, America’s workers are seeing their jobs provide less and less of what they need to get by. For many, the hope of attaining a good job with good benefits is giving way to the reality of piece-rate work in part-time, short-term, be-your-own-boss “gigs.” This is the prevailing business model in today’s on demand economy, where workers drive for Uber, pack goods for Amazon, do odd jobs for Taskrabbit, or provide home services for Handy. By calling these workers “independent contractors,” many on demand companies transfer much of the risk of operating a business—but few of the benefits—from those who make the profits to those who do the work.
As technology improves our lives in so many ways, it should be harnessed to build a more inclusive economy—not to leave workers without decent incomes, an adequate safety net, and basic rights, including the right to take collective action. NELP works to ensure that workers in the on demand economy are covered by hard-won workplace protections. And we’re developing new models for turning “gig” jobs into good jobs.
Resource: State Agency Decisions Regarding On-Demand Workers
Unstable and insecure work is a growing reality for more workers now than ever before.
For many, the hope of attaining a good job with good benefits is giving way to the reality of piece-rate work in part-time, short-term, be-your-own-boss “gig work.”
As technology improves our lives in so many ways, it should be harnessed to build a more inclusive economy—not to leave workers without decent incomes, an adequate safety net, and basic rights, including the right to take collective action.
Instead, the denizens of the on-demand industry economy, with the aid of an army of lobbyists, are pursuing state-sanctioned exemptions from all responsibility towards the workers who drive, clean, deliver and perform other short “gigs” at the companies’ bidding.
NELP’s Rights On Demand series provides a path forward to ensure that workers in the on-demand economy are covered by hard-won workplace protections. And we’re supporting worker-led campaigns fighting to turn “gig” jobs into good jobs.
Read our Rights on Demand series to learn more.
New technologies can improve our lives. But all companies have a responsibility to the communities they serve and to the workers who make their success possible.
Over the past five years, app-based companies like Uber and Lyft have been able to rewrite the laws in 41 states to benefit themselves—and undermine protections for workers and consumers in the process.
The speed and sweeping effectiveness of the industry’s use of this strategy, known as state interference (or preemption), is unprecedented—and other companies are replicating Uber and Lyft’s model as new technologies arise.
Visit this page to learn more about how many companies in the app-based economy are overriding laws and what we can do to prevent it.
National Employment Law Project
90 Broad Street, Suite 1100, New York, NY 10004
