(The Center Square) – A group of Uber and Lyft drivers are pushing back against recent legislation that would classify drivers for companies such as Uber, Lyft and DoorDash as independent contracts while allowing them to create portable benefits options such as health care and retirement accounts.
Senate Bill 256 and Assembly Bill 269 passed the Legislature and will be sent to Gov. Tony Evers.
“Uber and Lyft drivers in Milwaukee are standing together to raise concerns about workplace conditions, fair pay, and protections on the job,” Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale said in a statement. “… In the wake of recent state legislative action that would strip app-based transportation and delivery drivers of employee status and reclassify drivers as independent contractors, workers are sounding the alarm on how this change would negatively impact workplace protections like minimum wage, unemployment insurance, and worker’s compensation.”
DoorDash estimated that there are 100,000 app-based workers in the state.
When the bill passed, Sen. Melissa Ratcliff, D-Cottage Grove called it a covert way to deny employment protections for these drivers.
Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin applauded the bill, saying it allows workers to maintain their independence while gaining access retirement savings, health insurance and occupational accident coverage.
Drivers who make $750 in a calendar year are eligible for a portable benefits account, with the company being obligated to pay 4% of the driver’s earnings in the previous quarter, minus tips, if a company contributes to the account.
“The emergence of the gig economy has created a situation that many employers have exploited to misclassify workers as independent contractors, in an attempt to deprive workers of important rights to which employees are entitled, including worker’s compensation, unemployment insurance, minimum wage, and overtime pay,” Bloomingdale said. “Our labor rights and employment protections are the product of many years of struggle by the labor movement and must not be stripped away simply because the modalities of doing business have changed.”
