For four years, the work situation of Uber drivers in the UK has been like a colorful beach ball – insubstantial, court-to-court beating, which looks different depending on where you are. On Friday, the country’s highest court ruled: a group of 25 Uber drivers who filed a case against the company should never have been treated as independent contractors, the judges concluded. Workers, on the other hand, are entitled to the national minimum wage, paid leave, rest breaks and protection against discrimination.
For now, the decision only applies to the 25 drivers. But it is the latest sign of governments around the world pushing the business model of Uber and its concert brothers, including DoorDash, Lyft, Amazon, Instacart and, in the UK, the food delivery company Deliveroo. Lawmakers, lawyers, unions and organizers want companies to treat their workers better, even if companies are unprofitable.
“Over the past twelve months, the courts have produced a pendulum balance toward protecting workers’ rights in the concert economy, ”says Ruwan Subasinghe, legal director of the International Federation of Transport Workers, who represents close to 20 million workers in 150 countries. Last March, France’s highest court ruled that an Uber driver could not qualify as a self-employed contractor, which opened tax liability on the delivery and transportation company. A similar sentence was handed down in Italy last autumn. The Belgian labor authority filed a court case challenging the worker status of food delivery workers last month. Just this week, judges in the Netherlands ruled that Deliveroo bicycle messengers do not qualify as self-employed and that Deliveroo must pay an hourly wage instead of delivery.
Outside the courtrooms, the Spanish government must issue new strict rules that change the employment status of food distribution workers in the country as early as this month. And the European Union this month will begin debating legislation governing platform-based work, with the aim of issuing new labor standards by the end of the year. The EU could, for example, drop antitrust laws to allow workers to negotiate collectively, a kind of coordination that today could be considered an illegal cartel.
Uber has argued for years that it is simply a technology platform that connects business owners (people who own cars and want to make money) with customers who want travel and snacks. But Friday’s unanimous decision by the UK Supreme Court ruled that, unlike other independent contractors, Uber drivers have no control over key parts of their work. The court said drivers do not set their own contractual terms, they are penalized for rejecting too many travel applications, which are assessed (using pilots ’qualifications) as employees. It is clear, according to the court, that Uber drivers can theoretically choose what type of car to use, but Uber takes care first of the make and model.
In response to the decision, Jamie Heywood, Uber’s regional general manager for northern and eastern Europe, stressed that the ruling only applies “to a small number of drivers who used the Uber app on 2016 “and that the company has made changes to its driver application since then. “We are committed to doing more and will now consult with all active drivers across the UK to understand the changes they want to see,” he said. Uber did not immediately announce any changes to its service, but in the past said it will raise prices if it is forced to treat more of its drivers as employees.
Similar arguments occur in the US. A 2019 California law restricted the use of independent contractors by employers. Shortly afterwards, a federal appeals court ruled that Uber drivers should be treated as employees, entitled to the minimum wage, workers’ compensation and other benefits. In the end, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and others evaded lawmakers and the courts by spending more than $ 200 million on a voting measure that allows them to continue treating workers as contractors, with some added benefits. The Californians approved the proposal November 22.