(CNN)Recently, the new on-demand economy met U.S. employment law, and the encounter left both sides dazed and confused. In San Francisco, one federal district judge speculated that the ride-sharing company Uber may have to treat its drivers as employees rather than independent contractors. In another courtroom in the same city, a different judge, hearing a lawsuit brought by drivers for Uber's rival, Lyft, opined that U.S. employment laws actually may not cover the drivers as employees. Neither court has yet issued a final decision, but when they do, both judges will be right. Work -- both its structure and its very nature -- is undergoing rapid change in our country.
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In the new on-demand economy, companies like Uber are turning workers into day laborers
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By calling workers "independent contractors," companies reap profits but bear few responsibilities
Companies like Uber and Lyft fit squarely within this paradigm, forcing their drivers (or "partners," in @placeholder-speak) to bear all of the risk of running their own businesses -- investing in cars, paying for maintenance, insurance and gasoline, but without any guarantee of steady work --while sending much of the rewards to the company.