Gascon Seeks Worker Standing For Residence Companies Gig Staff
LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon announced today that he has joined with San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin to admit Handy, an on-demand household services company, to it prevent its employees from being classified as independent contractors.
Gascon and Boudin filed the motion in the San Francisco Supreme Court on Friday in a civil lawsuit filed in March alleging unfair business practices by Handy Technologies, Inc.
Prosecutors say Californians who work on cell phones must be treated as employees rather than independent contractors under state law.
“This illegal and shameful practice must come to an end,” said Gascon. “Employees deserve protection in terms of occupational health and safety, especially in these precarious pandemic times. In addition, competing companies who abide by the law deserve a level playing field. ”
According to Gascon, workers treated as independent contractors are not eligible for minimum wage, access to paid sick leave, family leave, business reimbursement, disability and unemployment insurance.
Under AB 5, which passed in 2019, it is more difficult for companies to treat California residents as independent contractors. However, the primary targets of that legislation were Uber and Lyft, and last November California voters passed Proposition 22, exempting hailer shipping companies from reclassifying their drivers as employees.
Uber and Lyft, which reportedly spent $ 205 million in support of Prop 22, argued that drivers prefer the flexibility to work independently and that hiring drivers as employees would mean laying off hundreds of thousands of drivers around the world Maintain a viable, inexpensive transportation service.
Handy is a New York-based company that sells housekeeping services, including pre-arranged housekeeping and manual labor. According to Gascon, the company employs around 17,500 people in California.
The civil lawsuit seeks a nationwide reimbursement for cell phone workers to permanently halt the ongoing illegal misclassification and civil sanctions.
Photo: Getty Images
Copyright 2021, City News Service, Inc.
