California Overturns Uber's Appeal: Its Drivers Are Employees, Not Contractors

An anonymous reader writes: Uber's third attempt to overturn a California court ruling stating that its drivers are employees and not contractors has ended in failure, with the appeal dismissed by the California Employment Development Department (EDD). The California Labor Commission ruled in June on the matter, and in a later appeal one judge effectively decided that the difference between 'firing' a driver and deactivating their account is purely semantic.

Comments

Re:so when

[ndavis]

Only if eBay is telling you what computer to use, when to use it , when you can list and what you can charge. Oh and they can dictate that you are not allowed to use competitive services while listing an item on their site. Not sure how Facebook and YouTube fit into this as they are services that you use for free via advertising.

Yes, they are employees

[duckintheface]

There are many reasons why drivers should be classified as employees rather than as contractors. The most obvious is that drivers don't price their own services. The labor laws were specifically written to protect people who are working for much more powerful companies which will treat them as serfs if they can get away with it.

Re:Yes, they are employees

[ShanghaiBill]

There are many reasons why drivers should be classified as employees rather than as contractors.

Yes. There are 20 reasons. Here is the list.

The most obvious is that drivers don't price their own services.

In some ways the drivers are treated like employees, and in other ways they are treated like contractors. Uber may be able to shift the balance enough to satisfy the courts, and the IRS.

Like employees:
- Uber sets the price
- Uber prohibits drivers from offering services outside of the Uber App
- Uber drivers are an integral part of Uber's business
- Uber drivers cannot subcontract
- Uber drivers are trained by Uber
- Uber drivers must follow specific procedures
- Uber drivers can quit or be fired at any time

Like contractors:
- Uber drivers set their own hours
- Uber drivers own their own equipment
- Uber drivers are not required to work full time, or a minimum or maximum number of hours
- Uber drivers do not work on Uber's premises
- Uber drivers are not directly supervised

Re:Yes, they are employees

[kwbauer]

Who was holding the "gun" to the head of the Uber drivers and demanding that they drive for Uber?

Re: Yes, they are employees

[Anonymous Coward]

Computers in the home don't accidentally kill you when they mistake that rock in the road for a paper bag.

I love tech, but I also live in the real world, not the imagination land that is currently Silicon Valley. I love to dream as well, but I know where to draw the line between my awesome dreams and what's practical today. Self driving cars are still in the "awesome dream" category. Sadly, they'll probably go the way VR and neural nets did in the 80s and be destroyed by the hype cycle and become toxic topics for a few decades before the realists return to them and make them practical. (pro tip: if you're in tech, it helps to know history and become a good pattern matcher for trends)

Make the same ruling for Papa John's Pizza

[Khyber]

The company and its franchisees pull the independent contractor status all the goddamned time while doing all they can to violate California law - charging you for uniforms (illegal under CA law) deduction of tips from credit card purchases (illegal just about anywhere) refusal to pay mileage reimbursement (IRS law violation) and much, much more.

John Schnatter is a class-A business criminal and needs to be taken to task by the courts.