Gov. Evers Vetoes Uber Driver Status, Benefits Bill in Wisconsin

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) vetoed a bill that would have locked Uber Technologies Inc. and DoorDash Inc. drivers into independent contractor status while also making them eligible for portable employment benefits if the companies opted to provide them.

The measure (AB 269) would have designated ride-hail and app-based delivery drivers as independent contractors, not employees, if the companies avoid certain forms of control such as setting drivers’ work schedules or minimum work hours.

The major ride-hail and delivery app companies including Lyft Inc. and Instacart already classify their drivers as independent contractors, but the change in Wisconsin law would have made that status more explicit.

“I object to the bill’s definition of independent contractor status in the absence of any guaranteed benefit for workers,” Evers said in his veto message Friday. He said he’s open to future options for establishing portable benefits, if workers and the companies are given the chance to negotiate a thoughtful compromise.

The legislature passed the bill June 18 with Republican and some Democratic support.

The bill’s Republican supporters touted it as extending certain benefits such as on-the-job accident insurance to the 300,000 gig drivers in the state.

But opponents including the Wisconsin AFL-CIO said the bill only creates the option for gig economy companies to contribute toward drivers’ benefits, while mandating that the drivers are blocked from employee-specific legal protections such as minimum wage and unemployment insurance.

Alabama and Tennessee enacted similar portable benefits laws for gig workers this year, as did Utah in 2023. The measures are gaining popularity among GOP-majority legislatures, as Democratic-led statehouses pursue other approaches to gig work, such as setting up state-supervised collective bargaining frameworks for drivers.

US Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) introduced a similar federal legislative package in July, including a bill that would let companies offer health and retirement benefits to independent contractors without those benefits counting as a factor toward classifying the workers as employees.