> I have several friends that actively choose to be contractors because they prefer the (legally protected) flexibility to decide their own hours
Those legal protections can be enforced by those who have the means to hire a lawyer. Yes, white collar contractors often get to enjoy the legally enshrined protections to decide how, when and where their work is done. They are often paid twice as much or more than their salaried peers to make up for the increased costs of self-employment and lack of employer provided benefits.
Blue collar workers working as contractors are almost always doing so not for their own benefit, but for the economic benefit of their employers. The workers get little say in how, when or where their work is done. Their pay does not reflect the increased cost of self-employment, and they are not offered benefits.
Uber drivers can't even set their own rates.
As an aside, there are plenty of people employed as employees with flexible hours and schedules in the US.
Uber drivers can set their own rates in some parts of CA [0]. It’s a pretty big change brought out by these lawsuits to make the drivers as independent as possible.
That's a weird message for Uber to send, that Uber drivers are only contractors in some parts of California where judges are upholding the law, but in the rest of the US Uber drivers are employees.
Why is that weird? If the rules vary by jurisdiction, I expect compliance to follow suit.
I suspect that you're implying some sort of objective universal metaphysical state of "being an employee" or "being a contractor", but that's pretty clearly false.
They don't. The distinction between a contractor[1] and employee[2] has a broad rule at the federal level[3]. Contractors decide their rates and how they're paid, and they determine how, when and where their work is done.
People who work for Uber outside of a part of a single state can't set their rates or how they're paid, nor can they determine how or where their work is done because Uber only allows drivers to use certain vehicles.
California imposes a legal standard called the “ABC” test, which not all States apply.
“States will vary on exactly what parts of the test they apply and when they apply the test to workers. In September 2019, California put into place Assembly Bill 5, which found that a worker could only be an independent contractor if they met each of these three factors...”
1) The worker is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the work's performance, both under the contract for the performance of the work and in fact.
2) The worker performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business.
3) The worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work performed.
IANAL but this ABC test reads to me as markedly different from the typical IRS “balance of factors” tests and significantly narrows the scope of “independent contractor”.
The feds seem satisfied to allow Uber to classify workers as contractors so far, and California doesn't, so yes, the rules do vary.
People who work for Uber as contractors can accept or decline rides, and only accept rides at a rate they want, so yes they are setting their rates. Just as a software contractor can accept or decline a job based on the rate offered. You're entitled to accept work at a rate you want, but you are not entitled to be guaranteed work at the rate you want.
Those legal protections can be enforced by those who have the means to hire a lawyer. Yes, white collar contractors often get to enjoy the legally enshrined protections to decide how, when and where their work is done. They are often paid twice as much or more than their salaried peers to make up for the increased costs of self-employment and lack of employer provided benefits.
Blue collar workers working as contractors are almost always doing so not for their own benefit, but for the economic benefit of their employers. The workers get little say in how, when or where their work is done. Their pay does not reflect the increased cost of self-employment, and they are not offered benefits.
Uber drivers can't even set their own rates.
As an aside, there are plenty of people employed as employees with flexible hours and schedules in the US.