For drivers like Luis Ramos, who’s been working for Lyft for more than five years, the flexibility of being an independent contractor is about more than just freedom and benefits. His girlfriend has lupus, and when her illness flares up, he has to be there. 

“We never know when that’s going to come, and when that comes, whatever I’m doing, if she needs me to bring her to the hospital or to her lupus doctor, I need to stop,” Ramos said. 

Ramos, who lives in Milford and drives for Lyft in Boston, said working as an employee with set hours, having to drop everything when his girlfriend is ill would cause him to be fired.

“Why do you want to try to fix something that’s not broken?” Ramos said.