These last few months have been encouraging for fans of independent contracting. In several cases, proponents have won important victories against those who would impose burdensome new requirements on employers that force them to reclassify workers as employees. States like Alabama and Georgia have passed laws clarifying that app-based transportation and delivery drivers are not the same as traditional employees so long as workers are free to shop employers and have control over their work schedules. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, a federal court dismissed a nine-year-old case alleging that Uber drivers were misclassified as independent contractors.
However, perhaps nowhere has there been a more important victory for independent contracting than in California. In late July, independent contractors won an important victory when the California Supreme Court issued a decision upholding the constitutionality of Proposition 22—a 2020 ballot measure that successfully exempted ride-sharing companies from the Golden State ban on contract work.
The unanimous ruling closed the chapter on one of the most closely watched legal battles in the country over worker classification. The ruling has important implications for other states that continue to debate the merits of their own worker classification laws and frequently look to California’s example. Policymakers would be wise to take note of this ruling and pass laws that give workers maximum freedom to decide what type of employment works best for them.
The debate over worker classification essentially boils down to whether those who work for companies on a contractual basis should be treated as traditional employees by law. Traditional employment has some advantages, of course, but there is a reason independent contracting has become so popular: work flexibility and a desire by Americans to work on their own terms to name just two.
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Nate Scherer is a policy analyst with the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. For more information about the Institute, visit us at www.TheAmericanConsumer.Org or follow us on X @ConsumerPal