Virginia Rising

Worker Protection Debate Rages Over Sharing Economy By Stephen Lee Aug. 3 — As the Obama administration and congressional Democrats take further steps to clamp down on employer misclassification in the so-called “sharing economy,” their efforts appear to bump into an uncomfortable tension: that even though companies like Uber and TaskRabbit don’t provide full safety and health protections for workers, they have …

July 2, 2015   by Jon Liss At first glance, the California Labor Commission’s decision last month to award Barbara Ann Berwick some $4,000 might not seem like a big deal. But the ruling—to classify Berwick, a driver for the ride-hailing company Uber, as an employee, rather than an independent contractor—could have a sweeping impact on the growing part of …

Ride sharing regulations See Jon Liss interview (video) here Australian Broadcasting Corporation Broadcast: 08/06/2015 Reporter: Ben Knight Uber is promising to create 20,000 new jobs in Australia this year and is lobbying state governments to introduce laws which legalise and regulate ride sharing. But in the United States, taxi driver unions are pushing for tougher rules on the way Uber …

By Luz Lazo February 21   The days of Uber, Lyft and other app-based ride-sharing services’ uncertain legal status in the Washington area are nearly over — at least in the District and Virginia.New regulatory frameworksfor the growing industry are soon to be in place in the two jurisdictions allowing the services to operate legally.“They’ll probably say these regulations are …

Latest Episode (listen now) The Uber Economy: a race to the bottom? A discussion with NVM’s Jon Liss The ride sharing service Uber has been in the news a lot recently, and most of the attention has been negative. On one hand, many riders are very satisfied with the service, that is when they’re not being charged surge prices. But …

WAMU 88.5 FM  Radio Interview By: Michael Pope January 29, 2015 Hundreds of taxicab drivers from across the commonwealth visited the Virginia Capitol in Richmond on Thursday to rally for new regulations for app-based, ride-hailing companies. Earlier this week, lawmakers struck a deal with a deal with Uber and Lyft to create new regulations for the companies. “Under the old …

What the rise of the app-based cab service says about the future of work in America Jon Liss January 27, 2015   |    This article appeared in the February 16, 2015 edition of The Nation. This article was adapted from a paper produced as part of the Future of Work Project, an inquiry supported by the Open Society Foundations. Thirty-one …

Rideshare regulation fight continues as taxi drivers push for job security  24 November 2014 By Kathryn Watson (File photo) The intense battle over rideshare regulations in the Old Dominion is far from over. This summer, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles caused quite a stir when it sent rideshare companies Uber and Lyft “cease and desist” letters for violating transportation …