The Federal Trade Commission revealed measures to tighten down on the mistreatment of gig workers, who, according to the agency, are protected by the law regardless of their worker categorization.

The Commission referred to the issue of "Power Imbalance," which leaves employees "more vulnerable to damages from unfair, deceptive, and unfair competition acts and is likely to compound such costs when they occur.

“No matter how gig companies choose to classify them, gig workers are consumers entitled to protection under the laws we enforce,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. according to MarketWatch.

The FTC states in the policy that they have the power to impose both competition and consumer protection laws in the gig economy, notwithstanding how a business prefers to categorize its employees, and that companies that violate these laws may be "obligated to pay consumer redress and civil penalties and may be ordered to cease unlawful business practices."

Though no businesses were named, the message was clear: the commission intends to hold "gig-work" stalwarts like UBER, DoorDash, Lyft and Instacart, responsible for the statements they make to potential employees, as well as how they treat the ride-hailing drivers and delivery workers who utilize their services.

Companies that employ a large number of gig workers, such as Uber and Lyft, have supported statewide legislation and funded efforts to prevent their temp workers from becoming full-time employees with benefits. This contains Proposition 22 in California, which voters adopted in 2020. Despite a judge's finding that the proposition is unlawful, it stays in force until the appeals process is completed.

Gig businesses have pushed to preserve their employees as independent contractors. President Joe Biden advocated tackling worker misclassification; this is the first move taken by his administration that clearly promised enforcement of the treatment of gig workers.