Posted by Mladen Trajkov.
Uber has become really successful and has grown and increased its market share tremendously in the last four years. The company is operating worldwide, and is valued around $62.5 billion. Their increase in presence can be seen in various places, especially in New York City. However, not everything looks so perfect with Uber. The drivers are not employed with the company, but they are self-employed and just sign contracts with Uber for the time period of work. Therefore, Uber is not entitled to pay them the minimum wage required by the state. “Research by Citizens Advice has suggested that as many as 460,000 people could be falsely classified as self-employed, costing [millions] a year in lost tax and employer national insurance contributions”, is written in the Guardian. Uber can`t classify its drivers are self-employed, therefore it has to provide the necessary benefits. This is based on two drivers in the UK who were employed by Uber. They were pressured to work long hours, instead of really working for themselves and make their schedule of working hours. Therefore, Uber was accused of “Resorting in its documentation to fictions, twisted language and even brand new terminology.”
This is going to have a bigger impact, because Uber is not the only business that does the self-contracting principle. Looking at Uber, a lot of other companies follow what Uber does, implements similar principles, and traps their employees in the self-employment scheme, which of course is not ethical. “The effect of this judgment is that those kinds of business may owe a lot more to their workers, such as paid holiday and minimum wage, than they had bargained for,” is said in the Guardian. This is an opportunity for those workers to enjoy the same privileges as regular workers do, for which they were previously denied and not entitled for.
A self-employed driver for Uber means that they do not qualify for health insurance, holiday pay, or the national minimum wage. On the other side, being self-employed means that you get to choose your hours of work and how much you work; basically you are your own boss. There are drivers who agree with this model, however some drivers are still disappointed. Drivers who agree are happy mostly because of the benefits of health insurance; however, they believe they are going to make less money now if they work less hours and make only the minimum wage. Other drivers who disagree, don`t really see themselves being employed. They prefer the freedom of choosing the hours of work and having their flexible schedule.
Mladen is an accounting major at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University, Class of 2017.
References:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/28/uber-uk-tribunal-self-employed-status
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-37802386
Posted by Giancarlo Barrera.
First it was Target, Home Depot, and now, JPMorgan Chase. They are the next victim under cyber attack. Chase is the biggest bank by assets in the US. They are also the dominate bank in New York City, where the majority of banks’ cooperate headquarters are located . “JPMorgan Chase has 65.8 million open credit card accounts, and 31.8 million of those accounts with sales activity, according to its most recent quarterly report. Chase also has 30.1 million checking accounts.” According to what the FBI has been investigating, names, addresses, phone numbers, and emails were taken, but no passwords and social security numbers
It was reported that the hackers did not receive any money from this cyberattack. “The bank’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said that the company will spend $250 million this year on cybersecurity, but has been losing security employees to other banks with more “expected to leave soon.”
Giancarlo is a finance major at Montclair State University, Class of 2016.