Say Something Real
The Need for Worker Education and Protections
By Michelle Bryant
Michelle Bryant
Back in the day, if you had an extra or non-traditional job, it might have been called your “side hustle.” Whether you did hair at the house or fixed cars in the alley, it was money aside from your regular income stream. The upside was that it usually paid cash and was money that often went unreported to the Internal Revenue Service. To be clear, I’m not condoning that! The downside, it was work that came with no 401(k), health insurance, or benefits at all.
The sad reality is that for many African-Americans, in the workforce, your side hustle wasn’t much different from your full-time job. I was reminded of this in a recent article written by Gabrielle Rejouis for The Forge. As Rejouis astutely walked readers down the historical legacy of discrimination and racism in the American labor market, she recapped how the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was designed to exclude Black workers. Stating that the “bill set a minimum wage, maximum work hours, and overtime protections, but southern Senators demanded different wage rates for Black laborers and white laborers. They fought to exclude industries with predominantly Black workforces in the South from maximum work hours and overtime pay,” her work detailed one racially-based employment injustice after another.
It is through that lens, that I have watched many in my community, move their side-hustle into varying forms of the Gig economy. Gig work can encompass a number of operational arrangements to include: temporary or project-based work, subcontracted work, or freelancing. Other elements of Gig work comprise how workers are classified, whether they receive a W-2 or a 1099 for the services they perform, and if payroll taxes are a part of the equation. Still not clear?
If you know someone who does Uber, DoorDash or delivers UberEats, they are a Gig worker. The person dropping off your Walmart.com order qualifies, as well as consultants, temp workers, and entrepreneurs selling their wares on the internet, as a Gig worker. Even those who have opened their home up as an AIRBNB are considered a part of the Gig economy. The industry has always been viewed as a way to level the playing field, by affording anyone unlimited earning opportunities. However, pitfalls exist, if you are not careful.
According to the PEW Research Center, Black adults comprise 27% of Gig workers in the United States. Hispanics, at 30%, represent the largest group of all such workers. Overwhelmingly, workers of color report feeling unsafe or sexually harassed while doing Gig work. You may recall Lo-Letha Hall, the Ohio Uber driver, who was killed after being the victim of a scam. Others report receiving lower service or performance reviews from customers and increased exposure to illnesses, such as COVID 19. Additionally, pay equity or a need for minimum wage standards was also raised as a concern.
Gig workers can better protect themselves by getting educated on this arena, consider obtaining professional insurance or liability coverage, understand that they are running a business and stay current on taxes and reporting requirements, and carefully read the terms of their work agreements.