15 - Contemplating New Categories of Workers

Summary

As Joseph Slater discusses in his chapter introducing this section, the question of who should be covered by labor law is one of increasing importance. This chapter discusses one possible response: the creation of new categories of workers. Many jobs once classified as standard full-time “employee” positions now are subject to some form of workplace fissuring. Once staffed by employees under a standard contract of employment, an increasing number of jobs are now split up, contracted out, divided, outsourced, or broken apart. In particular, whether as a cause, facilitator, or a mere incidental factor, certain types of workplace technology seem to have accelerated this trend toward workplace fissuring. Whether through the use of just-in-time workplace scheduling management programs, or platforms that can be used to outsource work across the Internet, technology and workplace fissuring often seem to go hand-in-hand.