Free Republic

The customer’s Reddit post asks for advice on how to handle a delivery driver that allegedly let their beliefs prevent them from doing their jobOne Uber Eats delivery driver seems to have their personal beliefs interfere with the successful delivery of an order — and now the customer is asking for help in an effort to figure out what went wrong. The problem? The customer ordered Plan B, and their driver refused to deliver it. The customer posted their ordeal on the r/UberEats subreddit. They say they needed a Plan B bill “on the fly.” It isn’t clear exactly what...

As many as two in five adults in the U.S. have a side hustle, according to a recent Bankrate survey of 2,500-plus adults, backing up LendingTree data from earlier this year that found side gigs are up by 13% over the past two years and recent Deloitte data that found more millennials and Gen Zers are adding on part-time jobs. Younger workers are more likely to need an extra job: 53% of Gen Zers and half of millennials have one, Bankrate finds, compared to only 40% of Gen Xers and 24% of baby boomers. It's a reflection of the state...

The Biden administration introduced a new regulation Tuesday that would make it harder for employers to misclassify workers as “independent contractors” to avoid minimum wage and overtime laws. The proposal from the White House would replace an earlier, more business-friendly rule created by the Trump administration that set looser guidelines around who could be considered a contractor in the workplace. Labor Department officials said the previous administration’s rule increased the likelihood of workers being exploited. Employers often mislabel their workers as contractors in order to evade workplace laws or shift certain costs of employment onto workers. Gig companies like Uber...

President Joe Biden is publicly pressuring California Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a bill that would make it easier for the state's farmworkers to unionize, and Newsom is reportedly angry about it.

The “FAST Act” is headed to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk after recently passing through the state legislature. As the Wall Street Journal reports, it would “create a government panel that would set wages for an estimated half-million fast food workers in the state.” --- “The bill would establish a panel with members appointed by the governor and legislative leaders composed of workers, union representatives, employers and business advocates,” The Journal explains. “They would set hourly wages of up to $22 for fast food workers starting next year and can increase them annually by the same rate as the consumer-price index,...

The US Supreme Court on June 28 declined to review a challenge by truck drivers to California’s controversial labor law AB5, meaning that it now goes into effect. The decision will throw up to 70,000 California truckers into legal limbo and further pressure the already-stressed supply chain.AB5 is a labor classification law that was designed to force gig-economy companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash to classify workers as employees, instead of as independent contractors, meaning they’d be eligible for benefits. Of course, lobbyists from those tech giants managed to get their companies exempted.RedState has reported extensively on AB5 in the...

This Fourth of July, watching people fight over what the Constitution means, I ask people, if you could change the Constitution, what would you change?"The forefathers knew what they were doing," said one woman.But the Constitution originally accepted slavery. It's good that we can amend it.So what should we change?"Add a balanced budget amendment," suggests Glenn Beck.David Boaz of the Cato Institute recommends 18-year terms for the Supreme Court. "Maybe confirmation fights would be less bitter and partisan."Others suggest term limits for Congress. Stossel TV's Mike Ricci takes the idea further. "If your father, mother, siblings, uncle, cousins were elected...

A bill that bans arrests for “loitering with the intent of prostitution” was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom during the weekend, formally ending the long-standing practice to crackdown on prostitution in cities across the state.

A Supreme Court decision may force over 70,000 truck owner-operators in California to stop driving, creating another choke point in the already stressed West Coast logistics networks. The AB5 law restricts the use of independent contractors and will soon be enforced against the trucking industry after the court declined to hear their appeal. The California Trucking Association said in a statement that gasoline has been poured on the fire that is the ongoing supply chain crisis, and the decision by the Supreme Court could deny a judicial review of a lower court ruling. In an end-of-term orders list released in...

Hey, I thought Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the US Transportation Secretary, was supposed to unclog the supply-chain crisis! Instead, we get heartaches on heartaches as diesel prices rise 118% under Biden AND now the bottle-necks may get a lot worse. A US Supreme Court decision that could force California’s 70,000 truck owner-operators to stop driving is set to create another choke point in already-stressed West Coast logistics networks, a truckers’ organization said. “Gasoline has been poured on the fire that is our ongoing supply-chain crisis,” the California Trucking Association said in a statement following the Supreme Court’s decision to deny a...

In the best of times, the Internal Revenue Service is tough to deal with, and tax season is never fun. But the past few years have seen the IRS lurch from one crisis to another. And things are about to get much worse for millions of taxpayers. In 2021 Congress expanded the reporting requirements of the obscure Form 1099-K. This information-reporting form tracks business transactions done with a credit or debit card or such peer-to-peer services as Venmo and Paypal. Prior to the change, taxpayers received a 1099-K only if they processed more than 200 business transactions, amounting to more...

There’s a ton of stories about the ships waiting off shore to unload their cargo and ho this is causing a ‘supply chain crisis’ We don’t have a supply chain crisis... we have a manufacturing crisis. The problem isn’t that we aren’t able to unload the ships fast enough. The real problem is that we don’t make anything here and we have to import almost everything. ... Our policies should be geared toward energy independence, homegrown supply chain resiliency (make it here), and sound fiscal policy with an eye towards restraint instead of buying votes and bankrupting our coiuntry.

California’s giant ride-hailing and delivery companies suffered a major setback Friday as a state Superior Court judge invalidated a 2020 ballot proposition that allowed Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other businesses to classify their workers as independent contractors. In a lawsuit brought by the Service Employees International Union, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch ruled that parts of Proposition 22 are unconstitutional because they infringe on the power of the Legislature to include app-based drivers under the state’s workers’ compensation law. Gig economy companies spent more than $220 million last year in the nation’s costliest-ever ballot initiative campaign after the...

The ruling is “a massive victory for California’s truck drivers, who for far too long have faced exploitation and misclassification at the hands of trucking companies that place corporate profit ahead of drivers’ safety and well-being,” the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said in a statement.

You may remember the controversial and rude statement from California’s Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (District 80) from last year regarding Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, which specializes in both electric vehicles and home energy solutions that include rooftop solar. Recently, Gonzalez not only backed but amended AB 1139, which could bring the state’s rooftop solar and storage market to a halt. The bill, nicknamed the “Anti-Solar Bill,” would kill the net energy metering policy that has allowed rooftop solar to grow sustainably Introduce new “grid access” monthly charge that will add $50–$86/month for the typical residential solar use. Adds prevailing...

This is how it starts, with an article here, an interview there. Scotland is now under a total nationwide lockdown. I think even dogs and cats are included. England is about to issue a total national lockdown. Here we have an influential Democrat State Senator—supported by Republicans like Catherine Baker, calling for a complete and absolute statewide lockdown—for four weeks. In March, Dr. Strangelove, Anthony Fauci told us a two week national shutdown would end the crisis. He knew he was lying. So, why would we expect a four week lockdown to work—or last just four weeks? Why are they...

Could worker reclassification laws affect the 2020 election? With Americans turning to independent contract work (or “gig work”) in wake of COVID-19, this issue could motivate people to vote. Freelancers across the nation worry the Biden-Harris ticket—should they prevail and get backing from a Democrat-led Senate—would displace 59 million Americans from the workforce.Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) openly support the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO Act). The former vice president tweeted and doubled down support for it on his campaign website, while his running mate signed onto the Senate version as a co-sponsor. But wait, it gets better! Bernie Sanders has expressed interest in being Biden’s...

What’s the best way to protect the rights of workers? Let them determine their own job preferences, or mandate that companies provide them with certain protections? California has chosen to take the latter path. Has it worked? Is it a victory for workers, or a debilitating defeat? Patrice Onwuka of the Independent Women’s Forum looks into these questions. Her findings may surprise you.

I know you've been busy binging the exciting coverage of the Democrat National Convention. But have you heard the latest bit of horrible news from the once golden state of California? I don't mean the 367 wildfires that are out of control and charring the hills of Northern California. Or the heat wave and the rolling blackouts caused by the high electricity demand for air conditioning. I'm talking about the possible disappearance from California of the popular ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft. Both companies were planning to completely shut down their California operations at midnight Thursday rather than comply with...

California has claimed victory over the horrible abuse and exploitation of workers at the hands of evil employers with a new bill, AB666, which will make it a crime to work for a living. The new bill, signed into law by Governor Newsom Thursday, will stop the mistreatment of workers forever by making it illegal to work. "Employers used to do bad things -- well, not anymore," said Newsom at the bill signing. "Not on my watch. This solution is guided by SCIENCE. Leading SCIENTISTS say that when you can't work, you can't be exploited by evil corporations and wicked...