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

Posted by timothy on from the regulators-doing-what-they-do dept.

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.

3 of 367 comments (clear)

  1. Re:so when by ndavis · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

  2. Yes, they are employees by duckintheface · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    --
    "He took a duck in the face at 250 knots." -- William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
    1. Re:Yes, they are employees by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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