Many workers, especially low-wage workers, aren’t getting key benefits they want—such as paid leave and flexible schedules—because lawmakers are letting companies get away with anti-worker practices, according to a new Economic Policy Institute report.  

The United States continues to lag other industrialized democracies when it comes to a national paid leave law protecting workers. The lack of paid family and medical leave policies has a disproportionately harsh impact on low-wage workers, who are predominantly women, immigrants, and people of color. These workers are far less likely to receive paid time off or have flexibility in controlling their work schedules, even though their need for leave is every bit as acute. 

Some workers are doing gig or short-term work—including digital platform or app-based gig work—in an effort to have more flexibility and control over their work schedules. But this flexibility is often illusory, given the degree of control employers retain over workers and their schedules. Even more problematic is the effort by some companies, led by digital platform transportation companies like Uber and Lyft, to leverage the flexibility myth in attempts to defend their employment practices. These app-based companies misclassify their drivers as independent contractors, claiming that this is a necessary practice for meeting drivers’ demands for flexibility. However, this practice deprives drivers of crucial workplace protections, including guarantees for paid time off and scheduling certainty, where such laws exist. Experience has shown that companies can easily meet workers’ need for flexibility while maintaining their status as employees. 

“The problem of employers misclassifying workers as independent contractors is pervasive and robs workers of key workplace protections. Allowing companies to distort labor law to their advantage not only harms gig economy, flexible, or part-time workers, it also sets a lower bar for other types of employment. Policymakers should reject companies’ efforts to use workers’ desire for flexibility to justify exploitative employment practices,” said EPI senior policy analyst Margaret Poydock, who co-authored the report.  

Specifically, the report recommends policymakers focus on enacting legislation to provide workplace benefits and protections that offer employees real flexibility with real protections—including paid leave legislation; scheduling fairness legislation; and legislation to strengthen workers’ ability to form and join unions, so they can bargain collectively for these benefits and protections.