30/04/2024
Now live on the Cardozo AELJ Blog: “The Impact of the ‘Misclassification’ of Employees as Independent Contractors on New York City’s Performing Arts Institutions and Gig-Based Performers” by Staff Editor Katie Sigety.
“It is important to consider that, especially with the rise of the gig economy, the ‘independent contractor’ label shifts risk and cost from organizations to artists themselves and deprives them of core rights and protections such as minimum wage, overtime pay, contributions to Social Security, the right to collective bargaining under the National Labor Relations Act, workers’ compensation, unemployment compensation, and protection from discrimination. Additionally, state reports show that 10 to 30 percent of employers (or more) misclassify their employees as independent contractors, which indicates that several million workers nationally may be misclassified. Which in turn causes state and federal governments to lose billions in annual revenue. NYSIF and the DOL must remain vigilant in enforcing these requirements, but there must be a re-assessment of how this enforcement is being conducted on small performing arts institutions, especially considering that the performing arts space in New York City has struggled to recover since the pandemic.”
Katie Sigety is a second-year law student at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a Staff Editor at the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal. Katie is interested in Art and Special Education Law. She is currently interning at the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (“DCLA”) as part of her participation in the Visual and Performing Arts Law Clinic. At DCLA, Katie is focusing on issues pertaining to cultural preservation in New York City.
