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posted by martyb on Friday November 15 2019, @09:20PM   Printer-friendly
from the get-to-refile-four-years-of-state-and-federal-taxes,-too dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

New Jersey is the latest state to say Uber's drivers should be classified as employees rather than independent contractors. The state's labor department said that because of this misclassification, the ride-hailing company owes it roughly $650 million in unemployment taxes and disability insurance, according to Bloomberg Law.

The labor department reportedly has been trying to get unpaid employment taxes from Uber going back as far as 2015, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg Law. It said the company owed the state $523 million in overdue taxes along with another $119 million in interest and penalties for the last four years. Uber disputes these findings.

"We are challenging this preliminary but incorrect determination," an Uber spokesman said in an email. "Because drivers are independent contractors in New Jersey and elsewhere."

Driver classification is an issue that government regulators have been taking a closer look at over the past year. California passed a law in September that could require Uber and other on-demand companies to reclassify their drivers as employees instead of independent contractors. The law is set to go into effect Jan. 1. New York, Oregon and Washington state have considered similar legislation.


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  • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Sunday November 17 2019, @12:27AM (1 child)

    by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Sunday November 17 2019, @12:27AM (#921127) Journal
    Jobs driving for Uber are not worth preserving. You're better off flipping burgers for minimum wage. No wear and tear on your car, no extra insurance premiums for using your car as a commercial vehicle, not getting paid for waiting or driving around waiting for a call, not having to worry about getting hit for the employers share of taxes and benefits (unemployment, social security, etc) because you're classified as self-employed ...
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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday November 17 2019, @05:26AM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday November 17 2019, @05:26AM (#921191) Journal

    Jobs driving for Uber are not worth preserving.

    Yes, we didn't those jobs anyway.

    No wear and tear on your car, no extra insurance premiums for using your car as a commercial vehicle, not getting paid for waiting or driving around waiting for a call, not having to worry about getting hit for the employers share of taxes and benefits (unemployment, social security, etc) because you're classified as self-employed ...

    And no getting paid for providing a valuable service. You can break the economy a lot - if ride hailing gets destroyed, it's not that the straw that breaks the camel's back. But eventually, something will be that straw. Better to just not do such things in the first place so we have a less fragile economy.