The Weekly Independent: November 7, 2016

Staying on top of your field means staying ahead of the biggest news stories. That’s why each week we bring you The Weekly Independent, a quick-hit digest of news of note from around the web.

• Employment law expert Michelle Capezza spoke with MBO CEO Gene Zaino on the evolution of the contingent workforce. Read the full interview, which discusses everything from misclassification to portable benefits, over on National Law Review.
• Tech startup Gigster has launched an innovative plan to give contractors equity in the projects they work on.
• New York City has passed a new law forcing employers to pay freelancers on time and in full. This new legal measure is a large step forward for the freelance community and was largely lauded among creative and gig workers who pushed for the bill.
• An interesting op ed from the National Employment Law Project, published in The Hill, calls for the government to act even more aggressively against misclassification.
• All kinds of workers and places of employment are at risk for misclassification suits. The latest – a group of exotic dancers in Philadelphia currently petitioning for employee status.
• A senior conservative MP has called for a minimum wage for UK gig economy workers, The Guardian reports.

• The UK’s employment tribunal has recently ruled that Uber drivers should be treated as employees, not contractors. An op-ed in Contractor Calculator says that this is great news, but also that it sends out a stark message that public policy needs to adapt without damaging self-employment for other, professional classes of UK independents.

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