This guide covers gig and platform work from the classification question that everything hangs on through deactivation, insurance, pay, benefits, safety, and litigation. It sets out the four tests that actually govern — economic reality, ABC, common-law agency, and the labor relations test — explains why a worker can be a contractor under one statute and an employee under another in the same week, and identifies prong B as the provision that decides most platform cases. It treats deactivation as termination without process and sets out the notice, published-policy, human-appeal, and reinstatement elements now being legislated. It explains the three insurance periods, why a personal auto policy excludes coverage the moment the app is on, and why a rideshare endorsement is the single highest-value action a driver can take. Separate parts address pay transparency and tip integrity, minimum earnings standards, the arbitration clause and the transportation worker exemption after New Prime, Saxon, and Bissonnette, portable benefits, safety and rating bias, background screening, tax treatment, adjacent platform categories, and compliance program design.