Uber Loses Right To Classify UK Drivers as Self-Employed (theguardian.com)

Uber drivers are not self-employed and should be paid the "national living wage," a UK employment court has ruled in a landmark case which could affect tens of thousands of workers in the gig economy. From a report on the Guardian: The ride-hailing app could now be open to claims from all of its 40,000 drivers in the UK, who are currently not entitled to holiday pay, pensions or other workers' rights. Uber immediately said it would appeal against the ruling. Employment experts said other firms with large self-employed workforces could now face scrutiny of their working practices and the UK's biggest union, Unite, announced it was setting up a new unit to pursue cases of bogus self-employment. The Uber ruling could force a rethink of the gig economy business model, where companies use apps and the internet to match customers with workers. The firms do not employ the workers, but take commission from their earnings, and many have become huge global enterprises.

Comments

they have a lot more control then that.

[Joe_Dragon]

they have a lot more control then that.
Like
can't set your own price
limits on what tools (car) you can use.
The rating system.
can't really be Promoting Competitor’s Services (Including Your Own)
limits on acceptance rates / can really see where a ride is going be for committing to it.
and more

Re:they have a lot more control then that.

[Aighearach]

And as far as I know, Uber isn't specifying that you must drive only a certain type of car either...

So, you know nothing about their service or the control they have, but you thought you'd share your opinion anyways?

I didn't apply, but when the issue came up before I checked my car and even though it still looks nice their rules would absolutely disallow it. I find it funny because it is so much smoother driving and cleaner than the late-model rental I used.

Re: UK is the land of law

[serviscope_minor]

Contractors to work on the terms of the contract, whatever that may be.

Not in the UK. We have laws on the books that say if contractors look too much like employees then for the purposes of the law, they are employees. The specific point is to stop companies like Uber having people who are for all intents and purposes employees (possibly part time) but get to escape all their obligations by playing silly buggers with the name they give their employees.

Re: UK is the land of law

[Richard_at_work]

For anyone who is interested, take a look at the IR35 regulations, which HMRC are cracking down on massively...

http://www.contractorcalculato...

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ir...

These are just one of the rules designed to prevent the contractor-not-employee tax avoidance schemes in the UK.

Re:That's fine

[joss]

That well known socialist Winston Churchill understand the problem well enough: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

"It was formerly supposed that the working of the laws of supply and demand would naturally regulate or eliminate that evil. ... . But where you have what we call sweated trades, you have no organisation, no parity of bargaining, the good employer is undercut by the bad, and the bad employer is undercut by the worst; the worker, whose whole livelihood depends upon the industry, is undersold by the worker who only takes the trade up as a second string, his feebleness and ignorance generally renders the worker an easy prey to the tyranny"

We have employment laws for a reason, and the reason is countries with strong employment laws are far more prosperous and pleasant to live in.