
Eden (YC S15), On-Demand Tech Help, Switches from Contractors to W2 Employees - prostoalex
http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/03/eden-offering-on-demand-tech-help-switches-from-contractors-to-w2-employees/?ncid=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29
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lsc
20% more is high, I think, unless they are including health insurance in that
20%, in which case it's low, or unless they are going through a body shop/hr
outsorcing scam. Workers comp is pretty minimal for tech workers (though...
these people drive to on-site? that could drive up workers comp rates) and the
employer side of the payroll taxes are 7.5% Yeah, you've gotta pay someone to
figure it out, but that's a job that scales pretty well.

That said, it's an interesting move, I think one we'll see more of. I mean,
you provide the end-client a _lot_ more peace of mind if you actually have all
the required insurance. That's what I think is so weird about most of the
housecleaning "agencies" \- most of them 1099 their cleaners... meaning that
nobody has worker's comp covering the cleaners, which is a iffy situation for
everyone involved.

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mcaserta
Not to forget about companies offering warehouse movers for businesses as
1099. That's pretty much criminal.

On health insurance, to be precise the cost is $0.10/hour if a worker reaches
a precise threshold in weekly hours, so far below 20%.

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pravda
$0.10/hour? You think health insurance for a 2000 hour/year worker is $200?

I think it is closer to $2-$3 per hour.

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lsc
It's hard to turn in to a hourly cost, because the coverage is binary; an
employee works enough hours to be covered or not, and the cost of health
insurance for the worker depends mostly on the worker's age, not on how much
they work.

Of course, we're talking usually like $500 or so a month, varying dramatically
on age and quality of the plan, so in no case is it gonna be anywhere near
$0.10 per hour.

Workers comp can usually be broken down to a per-hour cost; and for, say, an
underpaid computer nerd, $0.10 per hour is a minimally realistic workers comp
cost, so maybe that's what parent was talking about.

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mcaserta
ACA is 0.10 an hour. If the worker works long enough s/he apply for Medicare.
If you want you can offer additional benefits. This is obviously not true for
full time employees.

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lsc
> ACA is 0.10 an hour. If the worker works long enough s/he apply for
> Medicare. If you want you can offer additional benefits. This is obviously
> not true for full time employees.

Again, I don't think this is true, at least not from an employer's
perspective. The prices I am familiar with are about the same through an
affordable care act exchange, and the (monthly) prices are the same for hourly
and exempt employees.

I... know very little about medicare, but I was under the impression that you
had to be very poor to qualify, and that it didn't have a lot to do with how
much you worked. It's possible that there's a government program for the poor
that will give you health insurance for $0.10 an hour, but as far as I know,
that's not something available to employers.

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mcaserta
I am happy to see Eden following the path of BlueCrew and switching to a W2
model. This is the future of the on-demand economy. Customers should be aware
the hiring a misclassified 1099 worker is illegal and risky

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justizin
Light the way!

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7Figures2Commas
In other news, Bubba's Seafood Restaurant in Kalamazoo today announced that it
will be complying with all food safety regulations, including the Kalamazoo
County Sanitary Code.

Bubba Smith, proprietor, explained his company's innovative decision to follow
the law. "If you ordered a shrimp cocktail at Bubba's for your parent or
grandparent, these are precious people. You'd want to know that the food was
being prepared properly and that the kitchen staff wasn't exposing your family
to trace amounts of fecal matter because they didn't wash their hands
properly."

Smith says he was also inspired by startups in the San Francisco Bay Area,
which have been trailblazers in abiding by long-standing state, local and
federal laws that have traditionally been ignored by less innovative
companies. "These startups really show that it pays to do the right thing
right from the beginning and not just to do it because of the threat of fines
and lawsuits."

