The Impact of the “Misclassification” of Employees as Independent Contractors on New York City’s Performing Arts Institutions and Gig-Based Performers

  During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) made it possible for independent contractors to access unemployment benefits, or “Pandemic Unemployment Assistance” (“PUA”), for the first time. This created a…