Gig Workers with Disabilities: Opportunities, Challenges, and Regulatory Response

Abstract

Purpose This article examines gig work—typified by technologically-based, on-demand, independent contractor arrangements—for people with disabilities. Methods To do so, it draws upon prior and current research to describe the nature of gig work for people with disabilities, as well as the challenges and new prospects that such work presents. It also discusses recent regulatory reforms and proposes improvements, particularly in light of the current pandemic. Results Participation in the traditional employment market for people with disabilities who can and wish to work remains limited, even when workplace accommodations and individualized adjustments are possible. Increasingly, though, self-directed or independently contracted work is a way for people with disabilities to participate in the mainstream economy. The “gig economy,” in particular, has provided additional opportunities for self-directed work, although the novel coronavirus pandemic has required existing approaches to be reconceived. Conclusions The gig economy provides new prospects, as well as challenges, for people with disabilities to engage in meaningful work. It also requires innovative regulatory responses to the gig work relationship, especially during the pandemic era.

Diversity and Inclusion in the American Legal Profession: Workplace Accommodations for Lawyers with Disabilities and Lawyers Who Identify as LGBTQ+

“…Nonetheless, effective workplace accommodations are not always available to all workers [11]. While people with health conditions, impairments, and other disabilities are more likely to request workplace accommodations than those without disabilities [12], there likely are disparities in who actually receives them.…”

“…One survey of over three hundred Chief Financial Officers has found that almost three-quarters (74%) of private companies in the U.S. may transition at least five percent of their on-site employees to permanently remote positions [17]. These remote work arrangements may benefit people with disabilities (or those who have family members with disabilities): better outcomes may result from work-related accommodations in their own homes [11,18,19,85]. And the pandemic raises the question of whether many of the changes made will remain the "new norm" once the pandemic ends, further benefitting people with disabilities and their families.…”

“…Thus, having a disability, being LGBQ, a woman, transgender, or a racial/ethnic minority is not associated with the odds of a positive accommodation outcome. 11 The coefficient of age implies that the odds of having a request granted increase with age (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.01-1.14).…”

“…13 Firm tenure (OR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.96-1.03) and working at a private organization (OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 0.74-2.79) are not associated with accommodation outcomes. 11 The odds of lawyers with disabilities are 0.67 times (95% CI = 0.20-2.24) those of lawyers without disabilities among those who identify as men, White, straight, and are 49 years old; odds are higher for LGBQ lawyers (OR = 2.55, 95% CI = 0.34-19.00), as compared to straight lawyers; odds of having a request granted for women are 0.86 times (95% CI = 0.31-2.38) those of men, and for transgender individuals are 0.66 times (95% CI = 0.07-6.68) those of men; odds of having accommodation requests granted for racial/ethnic minorities are 1.20 times (95% CI = 0.21-6.93) those of non-Hispanic White lawyers, holding other variables constant. None of these main effects is statistically significant.…”

California’s Response to the Status of Gig Workers with Disabilities: An Update

“…In a recent JOOR article [1], authors Harpur and Blanck examined gig work for people with disabilities, and we write with an important update triggered by this month's election and related developments.…”