Not a Surprise

Remember when the various gig companies bought a proposition on the California ballot in order to take away their employees' rights?

The law, Proposition 22.  Replaced worker rights with phony weak tea protections.

Guess what?  Even those watered down provisions are not being enforced.  In fact there is nowhere that an abused employee can file a complaint with if the law is being violated.

My guess?  Various California politicos get a lot of money from Silly-Con Valley tech bros:

Nearly four years after California voters approved better wages and health benefits for ride-hailing drivers and delivery workers, no one is actually ensuring they are provided, according to state agencies, interviews with workers and a review of wage claims filed with the state.

Voters mandated the benefits in November 2020 when they approved Proposition 22. The ballot initiative was backed by gig-work companies that wanted to keep their workers classified as independent contractors and were resisting a 2019 state law that would have considered them employees. Prop. 22 stipulated that gig workers would remain independent contractors but be treated better.

The state Industrial Relations Department, which handles wage claims, now tells CalMatters it does not have jurisdiction to resolve those related to Prop. 22, citing a July 25 California Supreme Court ruling that upheld the law and therefore maintains that gig workers are not employees. That effectively passes enforcement responsibility on to the state attorney general, whose office was noncommittal when asked about its plans, saying that it does not adjudicate individual claims but does prosecute companies that systematically violate the law.

The lack of enforcement leaves in limbo workers who in many cases have already been waiting for months or years for the state to resolve their complaints. Workers have filed 54 claims related to Prop. 22 since it went into effect in December 2020. At least 32 of them are unresolved, state records obtained by CalMatters show, although at least two of those are due to workers not following through.

We knew that this would happen.  The business model of Uber and Lyft and Instacart is not as a platform, nor is it providing rides or delivering groceries:  It is defrauding their employee.