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Uber Loses Gig Workers Rights Challenge in UK Supreme Court

Friday February 19, 2021. 03:00 PM , from Slashdot
Uber has lost a long running employment tribunal challenge in the UK's Supreme Court -- with the court dismissing the ride-hailing giant's appeal and reaffirming earlier rulings that drivers who brought the case are workers, not independent contractors. From a report: The case, which dates back to 2016, has major ramifications for Uber's business model (and other gig economy platforms) in the UK -- and likely regionally, as similar employment rights challenges are ongoing in European courts. European Union lawmakers are also actively eyeing how to improve conditions for gig workers, so policymakers were already feeling pressure to clarify the law around gig work -- today's ruling only increases that.

The court rejected Uber's argument that it merely acted akin to a booking agent for drivers, noting that the company would have no means of performing its contractual obligations to passengers (nor complying with its regulatory obligations as a licensed private hire vehicle operator) -- 'without either employees or subcontractors to perform driving services for it.' The court also weighed how Uber's business operates in light of UK employment law which provides for a 'worker' status -- a classification which is neither employed nor self-employed -- considering other case law and the detail of the drivers' relationship with Uber in coming to its interpretation of the legislation. Its conclusion is that 'the transportation service performed by drivers and offered to passengers through the Uber app is very tightly defined and controlled by Uber.'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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