San Francisco Considering Job Protections for Gig Workers

The Covid-19 outbreak has prompted worker-protection proposals in San Francisco, including an income relief fund for independent contractors and gig and undocumented workers, along with efforts to step up enforcement of state law.

San Francisco County supervisors are aiming directly at hometown gig-centric companies including Lyft Inc., Uber Technologies Inc., DoorDash Inc., and Postmates Inc.

The city’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement should establish rapid enforcement procedures to ensure workers aren’t misclassified as independent contractors, under a proposed resolution introduced Tuesday. The goal is to ensure local compliance with state law “and to proactively communicate to all employers their obligations under local law to provide benefits such as paid sick leave to their employees,” Supervisor Gordon Mar said.

The state law, A.B. 5, codifies a California Supreme Court decision that defines who is presumed to be an employee and thus covered by state law protections not available to independent contractors. It is widely aimed at online platform companies, which typically treat workers as self-employed entrepreneurs, generally not covered by wage and hour requirements or eligible for workers’ compensation benefits and unemployment insurance.

The resolution, which is a sentiment and doesn’t carry the force of law, asks the city health department to put in place minimum health and safety guidelines for app-based transportation and food delivery drivers. That would include company-provided sanitary supplies and provisions for workers’ rights, including compensation, should they come into contact with a customer infected with the coronavirus.

Lyft said Gov. Gavin Newsom, in issuing emergency orders last week, designated the ride-hailing companies as an integral part of the transportation system necessary to deliver essential services during the coronavirus outbreak.

Attempting to force ride-share companies “to adopt an employment model in the midst of this crisis would result in the widespread elimination of work for hundreds of thousands and the immediate interruption of essential services for vulnerable populations. It will hurt drivers and at-risk communities at a time when they need our services most,” a Lyft representative said in a statement.

Emergency Leave Floated

During the Board of Supervisors meeting, Mar separately proposed a law that would create a new category of paid leave for public health emergencies.

“With these emergency measures, employees of big private companies will be able to immediately access additional weeks of paid leave, closing a major loophole in the federal legislation and making sure that in health emergencies, workers are able to take time off” for themselves and their families, Mar said.

Another proposed law would provide $500-a-month income replacement to families with children in the San Francisco Unified School District. Undocumented immigrants; independent contractors; and gig, contract, and temporary workers would be covered under the proposed ordinance.

None of those workers are covered by federal and other stimulus plans and they don’t receive other benefits, said Supervisor Shamann Walton, who asked the city attorney’s office to draft the law.

Some gig workers may be eligible for a paid sick leave tax credit made available under a federal coronavirus relief law signed by Donald Trump March 18. They may also be available for limited benefits in additional legislation being negotiated by party leaders in Congress.

California gig workers seek full enforcement of A.B. 5 and assurances they will have access to benefits, including paid sick leave, disability, family leave, and unemployment insurance.

Another proposed law would presume that health care and public safety workers in San Francisco who become infected with the coronavirus were infected on the job, Supervisor Matt Haney said.

The presumption under the to-be-drafted law means workers would not have the burden of proof that they contracted the virus on the job, much as city firefighters are presumed to have contracted cancer from on-the-job exposure to chemicals.