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CNET, Business Insider, techcrunch and many others report on Hillary's beef with "on-demand/gig economy". Specifically:
"Many Americans are making extra money renting out a small room, designing websites, selling products they design themselves at home, or even driving their own car," Clinton said during a speech at the New School in New York City. "This on-demand, or so-called 'gig economy,' is creating exciting opportunities and unleashing innovation. But it's also raising hard questions about workplace protections and what a good job will look like in the future."
"Fair pay and fair scheduling, paid family leave and earned sick days, child care are essential to our competitiveness and growth," the former secretary of state said, referring to benefits not accorded to independent contractors such as drivers at Uber.
Meanwhile, others are quick to point that her "main super PAC decisively favored Uber over conventional cabs by a 25:1 margin" (doh, she didn't say Uber is bad, only that it is evil toward its empl... err... contractors) and Rand Paul tweets: "America shouldn't take advice on the sharing economy from someone who has been driven around in a limo for 30 years." (yeah, Dr Paul, zillions of male gynecologists were never pregnant, of course they know nothing about giving birth).
Original Submission
(Score: 3, Informative) by Grishnakh on Thursday July 16 2015, @01:35AM
I'm not talking about MS, Apple, etc. hiring contractors. That's a different kind of contractor, really: it's an employee who usually works through a 3rd-party agency, and both sides sign an employment contract for 3, 6, 12 months etc. Short of the employee doing something really really bad, the company can't fire them in that time (without paying the full salary through the end of the contract term). It has its drawbacks for sure, but it's not that bad.
What I'm talking about is people (not software developers) who work for small companies, and instead of being paid as W-2 employees, are paid as 1099 contractors because it's cheaper for the employer since they don't pay your FICA taxes like they're supposed to, and other taxes associated with full-time employees. The practice is rampant in many industries (dominated by small companies). The IRS even supposedly looks for this and will penalize employers, but I've never seen any evidence of this. You can file a SS-8 form if you think your employer classified you wrongly; basically the criteria are things like if you were contracted to do a job (like fix a plumbing leak or install an HVAC unit), or if you were treated like an employee (come here every day, follow the employer's orders, report to a boss, collect a paycheck for $/hour). If it's the latter, you're supposed to be an employee, not a contractor.