Yes, the misclassification of employees as independent contractors is a big issue. I’ve written about it before as o used to work on such cases when I was a clerk for the Massachusetts superior court, but it was almost too big an issue to incorporate into this essay.

Interestingly, classifying employees as independent contractors also helps employers skirt immigration laws, which is why I’ve argued in the past that we could address many working class Americans reservations about immigration via labor law reforms, but big business fights those reforms tooth and nail. Republicans in particular, who claim to want to fix immigration law, refuse to take this as obvious step. So it’s left to more progressive states like Massachusetts and California to do it. But we need a national solution.