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posted by takyon on Wednesday September 02 2015, @01:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the together-we-drive dept.

The Center for American Progress reports:

Uber's business model is on the rocks [September 1] after [Federal Judge Edward Chen] granted class-action status to a lawsuit targeting the company's treatment of drivers as independent contractors.

[...] There are 160,000 drivers who will be party to the current lawsuit alleging that drivers are full employees of Uber with full labor law protections, rather than independent contractors. Any person who drove for Uber in California since mid-August 2009 and is not subject to a binding arbitration clause in her contract with the company will be considered part of the case.

[...] A jury trial will still determine whether Uber drivers meet the legal definition of employees--in which case the company would owe massive amounts of back pay to all eligible drivers--or not. And Chen did not give the drivers everything they wanted. The judge rejected class status for drivers' claims involving Uber policy around reimbursing expenses like gas, tolls, and the cost involved in a canceled fare.

[...] The cost of paying back wages and payroll taxes for the entire class, while certainly smaller than the $50 billion that the company is currently worth according to investors, would be vast.

takyon: Also at MarketWatch. In Seattle, City Council members have announced a bill that could allow Uber, Lyft, and other for-hire drivers to unionize.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday September 02 2015, @04:55PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Wednesday September 02 2015, @04:55PM (#231344)

    If the drivers win, and get a judgment that says they are employees and not independent contractors, then they will reap all sorts of gains from that, like:
    - Health insurance, if they work more than 29 hours a week.
    - Minimum wage.
    - Overtime pay.
    - Compensation for gas and mileage on their vehicle.
    - Union organizing rights.

    Plus the National Labor Relations Board could really go after them for misclassifying their workers as contractors (they probably wouldn't unless Bernie Sanders were president, but they would have the legal authority to do it regardless). And of course all the state and local level cab regulations would likely apply to their drivers and their vehicles.

    I have no problem with Uber trying to compete on a level playing field, but they need to be treated identically to the existing cab companies, because that's who their primary competitor is. And if there's a problem with the cab regulations, the right solution is to fix the problem with the cab regulations, not to set up a cab company and pretend it isn't one.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 03 2015, @12:27AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 03 2015, @12:27AM (#231495)

    Do regular cab drivers get all of the things you mention?