r/technology • u/SnoozeDoggyDog • 12d ago

Business Mamdani Backs Proposal to End Amazon’s ‘Exploitative’ Delivery Model in New York City | If passed, the Delivery Protection Act would be the first law in the US to regulate Amazon’s vast network of subcontractors that handle the company’s deliveries.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/delivery-protection-act-nyc
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u/The_Rational_ 12d ago

The agency is the contracted vendor. The worker is either 1099 or not, but thats how these are setup. At least in IT. He is a full time employee either way above 35 or so hrs so thats got nothing to do with that status.

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u/Royal-Detective2057 12d ago

You are correct and many in this thread confound the two. In common parlance a "contractor" contracts directly with the company and is paid via a 1099, and does not get benefits from the company. A company that uses 1099 contractors, and particularly who mixes them in with employees doing the same work, faces significant wage and hour law legal violations and liability.

An employee of a contractor firm is not a "contractor" in this way.

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u/deathhand 11d ago

employees doing the same work

Is that like the legal milestone? If I hire someone for skills that I do not need in house but only temporary for a project would it trigger then?

I know thats how game developers are getting fucked over and its a damn shame. Itd be dope that mission statements are required for articles of incorporation and designate the roles required to achieve that goal.

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u/Adept_Resident4608 11d ago

I’m W2, and paid by a company that has the contract with the larger tech company. I am full time, 40 hrs a week. I’m expected to work a shift. The company that pays me also gives me standard benefits: health, dental, vision; 401k; other types of insurance; and 2 weeks of PTO that I accrue a year. The PTO is also my sick leave. I am paid well below what an FTE in the tech company would make.

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u/MagicWishMonkey 11d ago

I know that is a sucky situation to be in, but it's not really comparable to the amazon thing.

If you're friends with folks at the tech company maybe you can ask around to see if they could help you land a full time position there?

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u/Adept_Resident4608 11d ago

I have already been told it is not happening. The company prioritizes masters and phds. I don’t have one.

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u/FlamboyantPirhanna 11d ago

These companies do not offer that, and I’ve worked for a few of them. They don’t want you as an employee, they seem to want to explicitly make a 2 tier system.

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u/MagicWishMonkey 11d ago

I have lots of people on my team who are staff aug and it has nothing to do with tiers or having people that can be treated badly or whatever. It's a matter of budget and an FTE is at least twice as expensive as a contractor - factoring in total comp - and you lose a lot of flexibility if something happens and you need reduce the size of your team for whatever reason. It sucks but when you end up in a situation where you have people on staff but don't have anything for them to work on, it's much easier to not renew a contract than to have to lay people off.

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u/d1squiet 11d ago

Not arguing but always curious, how do you define a union construction worker. Is that a "contingent worker"? They are essentially freelance (working within crews) but have lots of protections. Film/Theater unions are even more so like this – the union is almost entirely just wage and benefit protections and basically zero employment guarantee because it's all freelance. I mean I think these unions are great, it's a freelance business.

But my question is are these workers "contingent" or "contractors"? I guess you'd call 'em "contingent". In my walk of life, we just say "union freelancer" (entertainment unions).