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posted by Fnord666 on Monday March 20 2017, @03:09AM   Printer-friendly
from the still-not-employees dept.

CNET reports

The showdown between ride-hailing service Lyft and its California drivers appears to have come to an end.

US District Judge Vince Chhabria gave final approval on [March 16] to a $27 million settlement agreement for a class-action lawsuit between Lyft and more than 200,000 of its former and current California drivers, according to court filings.[PDF]

This settlement seems to conclude the battle over how the ride-hailing company classifies its drivers. Under the agreement, the drivers will remain independent contractors, rather than be converted to employees.

[...] While Lyft's settlement seems to close the debate over driver classification, things could still change.

"The agreement is not perfect," Chhabria wrote in his order on Thursday. "And the status of Lyft drivers under California law remains uncertain going forward."

[Ed note - This story vandalized by Fnord666]

El Reg continues

The drivers sued Lyft in 2013 arguing that they should be classified as employees rather than independent contractors--the same issue that has dogged rival Uber in courts around the country.

By classifying drivers as independent contractors, Lyft and Uber shift the expense of payroll taxes, overtime, and worker benefits to drivers. With lower operating costs and venture funding, they are able to offer transportation at a price that's often below what taxi companies can afford to charge.

The settlement provides drivers with greater protection against being removed from the Lyft platform. Lyft has agreed to alter its Terms of Service so that it can no longer deactivate driver accounts for any reason. Instead, it will enumerate specific infractions that may lead to termination.

It will also pay for driver arbitration costs in the event of a dispute, and implement a pre-arbitration process to resolve issues without entering into a more formal process.

What's more, the settlement calls for creating a way for passengers to "favorite" a driver, resulting in benefits of some sort. And Lyft has agreed to provide more passenger data to drivers before they have accepted ride requests.

The settlement, however, leaves issues of employment classification unresolved.

In April last year, US District Judge Vince Chhabria of San Francisco rejected a proposed $12M settlement on the grounds that drivers might win more than 10 times that amount were a jury to determine Lyft's drivers should be designated employees.

In accepting the revised offer, Chhabria acknowledges that the compromise leaves issues unresolved. "The agreement is not perfect," he wrote in his order [PDF] approving the settlement on Thursday. "And the status of Lyft drivers under California law remains uncertain going forward. But the agreement falls within a range of reasonable outcomes, given the benefits it achieves for drivers and the risks involved in taking the case to trial.".


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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @04:12AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @04:12AM (#481357)

    US District Judge Vince Chhabria gave final approval on [March 16] to a $27 million settlement

    Under the agreement, the drivers will remain independent contractors, rather than be converted to employees.

    Looks like you've got a lot of independent contractors there. It'd be a shame if we started calling them employees.

    I'm sorry Don Gov. I forgot to make a donation to the family charity this month. Here's $27 million.

    Getting harder to tell the difference between the gov and the mafia with each passing day.

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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @08:24AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2017, @08:24AM (#481400)

    The $27M was NOT a fine from a criminal court.
    CA.gov or USA.gov got none of the money.
    It was a settlement to a tort.
    The money went to the 200,000 drivers.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]