Law360 Quotes New York Partner Richard Reibstein on Gig Worker Minimum Pay and Worker Protections

Richard Reibstein, co-head of Locke Lord’s Independent Contractor Misclassification and Compliance Practice, was quoted by Law360 discussing the implications of New York’s recent legislation requiring minimum pay for app-based gig economy workers. The legislation regards such workers as independent contractors, not employees. Reibstein notes that worker advocates have decoupled calls for worker protections from their argument that gig workers are employees under existing labor and employment laws.

“If worker advocates had been successful arguing that existing worker protection laws cover gig workers because they're actually employees who've been misclassified as independent contractors, a minimum pay standard [for gig workers] wouldn't be necessary,” he said. "It's a fascinating construct here that suggests to me that the efforts to find that app-based delivery drivers and couriers are not independent contractors — that they're misclassified, and that they're employees — is not something that is succeeding on the ground or in the courts."

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