Connected Futures Conference | Panel 3: The Gig Economy

Summary

The Gig Economy: Algorithms and the Communities We Create

Labor relations, systems management and logistics are merging in the “gig economy” where categories of “employees,” “contractors,” “customers” and “users” all blur. In managing employee-employment relations, including equal employment opportunities and discrimination between company and consumer, our legal system lags behind the machine-based and modular mechanisms that structure services and goods today. With increased efficiency and democratized access we may also be sacrificing equal opportunity, fair wage standards and cohesiveness among communities that helps sustain them. But the companies that thrive in this economy claim they share these values. How can the law protect workers in the gig economy?

Moderator: Rashmi Dyal-Chand, Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law

Panelists:

• Jason Jackson, Future Faculty Fellow, Political Science, Northeastern University
• Veena Dubal, Associate Professor of Law, UC Hastings College of the Law
• Sushil Jacob, Associate, Tuttle Law Group
• Christo Wilson, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, College of Computer and Information Science, Northeastern University