Last-minute California ruling means Uber and Lyft won't shut down today:
A California judge has granted Uber and Lyft an emergency reprieve from an order requiring them to treat their drivers as employees. The companies were facing a Thursday deadline to comply with the order. Earlier today, Lyft announced that it would be forced to shut down in the state at midnight tonight.
[...] Uber had warned that it was likely to do the same if the courts didn't delay enforcement of the law.
[...] The judge's emergency stay means that Lyft and Uber will be able to keep operating under their current model while they continue litigating whether the new law applies to them.
Previously:
California Judge Rules Uber and Lyft to Immediately Classify Drivers as Employees
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday August 21 2020, @12:06PM (6 children)
More likely: they raise another few billion and put robot taxis on the road, city by city, kicking drivers to the curb.
In the meantime, they will pull out of California and other locations if unwanted legislation gets passed or the courts rule against them. The drivers MUST be independent contractors.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Informative) by c0lo on Friday August 21 2020, @12:27PM (1 child)
See also: https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=42889title=What+Happens+If+Uber+and+Lyft+Flee+California%3F+Look+at+Austin [soylentnews.org]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Insightful) by helel on Friday August 21 2020, @02:39PM
tl;dr - Local companies willing to follow the law sprang up and drivers made more money. Law got reverted, Uber and Lyft returned to the market with deeply discounted prices to strangle the local competition, law-abiding companies went out of business and the duopoly raised rates back to the usual while once again paying drivers a pittance.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Friday August 21 2020, @01:30PM (3 children)
I wonder, and didn't really even try to search for it, how large the California market is. It might so to speak be worth fighting for considering it's size and the amount of people and customers that live there. So it might just not be as easy as to just pull out. It might cripple their entire business model and bottom line by the amount of income it generates for the company as a whole. Pulling out might be something you can do for the minor states or cities if they get uppity. But to drop California that might be something completely different.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday August 21 2020, @02:20PM
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday August 21 2020, @02:43PM (1 child)
Uber in particular has had a history of flouting the law. Maybe they don't need to pull out.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 21 2020, @06:14PM
That had been working for them, but if this is the result of a court ruling, then they'd likely wind up back in court answering contempt of court charges. The one thing that universally pisses off judges is when their rulings aren't adhered to by the parties to the suit. It's one thing to appeal a decision, it's quite another thing to just ignore it.