The thing is, under a lot of systems of law, you don't have that opportunity because you have to pay employees at least a minimum. Using "independent contractor" status to work around that is scummy, and may yet prove illegal.
I have employees and contractors working for me and we have very strict rules on what contractors can do, how you interact with them and when they might be considered employees. The company I work for wants to stay clearly on the legal side of contractor law.
If it is proved illegal then Uber will owe these people back pay and possibly back benefits which might collapse Uber and that is fine. If you want to run that close to the edge of the law then you have to accept the risk. But let these laws and judgments catch up with the new economy/technology.
I am a contractor myself, and the law in this area is murky. But in the case of the gig economy it is being used as a tax and rights avoidance strategy, not honestly.
Uber have already lost at least one case in the UK in which drivers sought to be classified as employed.
