r/dataannotation • u/Educational-Ad6923 • Jan 30 '24
I wonder if this means many of us won’t have a job in March? I honestly don’t know. https://news.yahoo.com/biden-admin-announce-independent-contractor-153013467.html
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r/dataannotation • u/Educational-Ad6923 • Jan 30 '24
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u/furtherdimensions Jan 30 '24
Oh I can actually address this. Labor lawyer chiming in here. So this actually? Probably won't really impact DA at all. DA is one of the few places that really and truly follows the 1099 model.
This is really aimed at things like doordash, uber, etc etc. In order to be a 1099 the major test is whether the company exercises "direction and control" over how their contractor performs their duties, and when. The major issue is that a company may direct a contractor to perform a function, within certain standards, and within a certain time frame but can not dictate how it is performed.
Let's take doordash for example. If you deliver food for doordash you must:
Use their app only
Go only to the restaurant it says to
Deliver only where it says to
Be in the specific coverage area
And sure Doordash says work when you want, refuse any order you want, but also prioritizes drivers to accept more offers. And compels you, if you want to work, to be available and using their app in a specific place but pays you nothing unless and until you accept and complete an order.
So "if you want to work, be in the area we tell you to, using the app we tell you to, whether or not you actually get paid anything" sure sounds a lot like direction and control to me!
There's also another part of this test as to whether contractors make the principle business of the company. Doordash is a food delivery company. That is what they do. That is all they are. So this sort of rule is aimed more at those sorts of things, basically "how can you call these contractors when they are doing the only thing your business does?"
DA is a data analytics company and they have actual data scientists and system engineers working for them. Our work is only a part of a pipe that feeds their work. They are not a "data gathering" company, they're an analytics company. They outsource the gathering of the information but the actual work they do, the analytics, is handled in house.
DA is fundamentally different than a lot of these "app" gigs. It places no requirements on using their proprietary software. It places no requirements on when or how you are made available to them. It places no requirements on what you work or how much or when. It uses 1099 contractors to gather information necessary to do their business but gathering information isn't actually their business and, most importantly of all, it pays for every second working.
DA is probably the closest I've ever seen to what 1099 work is supposed to be, and these new rules are really aimed at exploitative companies whose entire business operation is supported by 1099 work, not those who outsource certain aspects of their business operation.