Labor Relations and Employment Law, Co-Sponsored by Immigration Law, Business Associations, and Contracts

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Session Type: Section Call for Papers

Session Capacity: 99

Location: Hilton San Francisco Union Square

Room: Golden Gate 4

Floor: Lobby Level

This program will focus on the emerging trend of businesses using “on-demand” workers who share economic risks with those businesses as nominally independent contractors. These workers consider the job opportunity as an individual “gig,” characterized by flexibility conveniently gained from technology. State, federal, and local legislatures and related labor and employment law enforcement agencies have started to add items to this analysis beyond the typical “1099/W-2" common law control nomenclature. As a result, the question of who is an employee in the gig and sharing economy has become an ever-increasing concern. During the program, a panel of leading labor and employment scholars will address this question from a multi-disciplinary approach including the examination of unique issues for business franchises and immigrant workers. Also, with the help of a hypothetical involving an internationally-franchised, pizza making company and its use of local “gig” delivery drivers obtained from an on-demand matching service, the panelists will be asked to explore the scope of these worker classification problems for our economy. We will be seeking one additional speaker through a call for papers who will present on a related topic, and we particularly encourage new voices to submit a paper abstract.