Labor secretary weighs in on gig workers

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh weighed in on the debate over classification of gig workers for the first time Thursday, saying that “in a lot of cases” they should be full employees rather than independent contractors.

“We are looking at it but in a lot of cases gig workers should be classified as employees,” Walsh said in an interview with Reuters.

Walsh said that “in some cases they are treated respectfully and in some cases they are not and I think it has to be consistent across the board.”

“These companies are making profits and revenue and I’m not [going to] begrudge anyone for that because that’s what we are about in America… but we also want to make sure that success trickles down to the worker,” he continued.