An Unregulated Wild West
Gig economy services are an unregulated, wild frontier. A hotel could never get away with any blatant discrimination as is being alleged with AirBnB; a lawsuit was recently filed asserting the company was not addressing racism complaints.
However, if private citizens are putting their homes on AirBnB’s site, is AirBnB legally responsible for any discriminatory practices by a host?
According to FindLaw.com, the study would seem to indicate that many AirBnB hosts are acting in violation of federal and state anti-discrimination laws.
Although, many of the anti-discrimination laws on the books focus on public places, not private homes–as pointed out in The Washington Post.
What if someone chooses to not pick up a particular member of some ethnic group for whatever reason, in a car that they own and use for Lyft or Uber? Yellow cabs in NYC are bound by anti-discrimination laws set by the local government via the Taxi and Limousine Commission. For example, the TLC mandates that vehicles under its licensure must make accommodations for the disabled.
Uber has faced several lawsuits alleging the company discriminates against blind and wheelchair-using passengers. The suits demand Uber abide by the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), but Uber claims that it’s a technology company, not a transportation service, and doesn’t fall under the ADA’s jurisdiction.
Sharing economy companies–Â such as Uber, Lyft, and TaskRabbit–Â are, so far, not regulated as their traditional counterpart companies. This new economic model is bringing up a host of ethical, ownership, and workers’ rights issues that will inevitably have to be hashed out in courts.