Uber Drivers Are Independent Contractors, Not Employees, Judge Rules (reuters.com)

Uber drivers are independent contractors, not full-time employees of the ride-hailing company, a federal judge in Philadelphia ruled in what is said to be the first classification of Uber drivers under federal law. Reuters reports: U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson on Wednesday said San Francisco-based Uber does not exert enough control over drivers for its limo service, UberBLACK, to be considered their employer under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The drivers work when they want to and are free to nap, run personal errands, or smoke cigarettes in between rides, Baylson said. Jeremy Abay, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said he would appeal the ruling to the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 3rd Circuit would be the first federal appeals court to consider whether Uber drivers are properly classified as independent contractors.

Comments

Re:Think we're going to get a legal definition soo

[alvinrod]

It doesn't matter if Uber ultimately loses. They'll just make the minimum necessary changes so that they no longer have any employees. It's similar to how after the ACA was passed, some people suddenly found themselves working 29 hours per week because their employers didn't want full time employees and the additional requirements that entailed.

If you want to ensure that gig economy workers have the best wages and conditions, make sure that there are a large number of gig economy service providers competing with each other.

Price fixing?

[duckintheface]

I think they are clearly employees, but if they are independent contractors, they then have the right to set their own prices for work. If Uber is making all its "contractors" charge the same fee, that's called price fixing and it's illegal.

Re:Price fixing?

[ShanghaiBill]

if they are independent contractors, they then have the right to set their own prices for work.

Nonsense. The IRS publishes a long list of criteria, none of which is alone sufficient or necessary for "contractor" designation.

Many contractors DO NOT have the right to set their own prices.

Some employees DO have the right to set prices. This includes many employees paid partly or fully in commissions.

Re:Think we're going to get a legal definition soo

[technosaurus]

IANAL, but As a general rule of thumb, if a person is not allowed to subcontract the work, they are considered an employee... I am pretty sure subcontracting is not allowed... ergo - more rulings to come.

Legal definitions

[raymorris]

The law considers the following things:

Independence in investment in and choice of equipment etc. If the worker uses their own judgement to decide which equipment they want to use, and they buy their equipment, that may be an independent contractor. If the payer chooses and buys the equipment, it's likely an employee using it. In this cass, the employee chooses and buys their own car.

Permanence. Short-term gigs are often contracts. Projects that take more than a year to complete, where the worker is expected to be there long term, are likely employees. People doing Uber while between jobs, or to get some extra holiday cash, look like contractors.

Degree of control. Does the payer specify the outcome (fix my sink) or the exact process?

Financial risk. If the company guarantees exactly $x / hour, no more or less, that's probably an employee. If the worker can make more or less depending on how they choose to run their work, that's probably a contract.

Initiative and judgement. Is the worker following a script provided by the payer, or making their own plans and judgements? Can the Uber driver decide what area to work, based on which part of town they think will make the most money?

Ability to work for others, and actually working for others. Can Uber drivers also drive for Lyft? The plumber I hire to fix my sink also does similar work for other people, so he's a contractor. I have a limited non-compete clause with my employer, so I'm an employee.

I probably forgot one.

The IRS has extensive guidelines. The department of labor has similar ones, but not as extensive. The Supreme Court has enumerated broad considerations in certain cases.

Generally, the word "Independent" in "independent contractor" is important. Does the worker control how they do the work?

With Uber it seems to me people have two viewpoints on the whole thing. Uber advertises "make extra money in your free time". Many drivers see it as a full-time, long-term job.

It seems to me that while *some* people are able figure out the best hours and locations to work in order to do well with it long-term, for most people it's probably better as something you'd do while looking for another job, or only occasionally during surge pricing periods or whatever.

Re:Public school teachers

[ShanghaiBill]

a high chance of being shot to death?

Schools are very safe. A child in America is far more likely to be shot at home. If you have been led to believe otherwise, you should reexamine your news sources.

You're falling for right wing identity politics

[rsilvergun]

the modern American left isn't about any of that. They're about sound economic policy, to wit:

a. Medicare for all.

b. End the wars.

c. College for all.

d. New New Deal.

e. Infrastructure spending.

f. Living Wage.

The right likes to find our crazies and give them megaphones. It's easy to do because the American right wing owns the media. Ask yourself how often you hear a serious discussion of left wing economic ideas on TV. You don't. Don't be fooled by the right wing media and their cheap identity politics.

Re:You're falling for right wing identity politics

[grep -v '.*' *]

They're about sound economic policy, to wit...

OH. I expected to see a Funny tag on this, was surprised to see Insightful. "Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins." Oh, it's you. I mostly disagree with you, but do occasionally agree.

Medicare / College / Living Wage for all. And to use an old /. metaphor: I want a pony. That sounds great -- so free medicare, college, and all jobs pay a minimum of $1M/second. (What? I need a Porsche to drive to work. And you want me to go to work tomorrow too, right? What do you mean in yesterday's USED car? What kind of a heathen ARE you?)

Ehhh, I'm way tired and so will stop here with my sniping. I will ask what is a living wage? And for what jobs? All of them? So where IS the money going to come for this? (Don't just say "The Government". You have to add "and ..." to the answer.) And how? Are you going to enforce an overall minimum wage? Change the W2 forms to add "hours worked", and throw the bosses in jail if the employee numbers don't work out right? If we pay (say) $20/hour for everyone for flipping burgers (or breathing) then any other job that's harder MUST pay more. How are you to find someone that wants (perhaps even go to school) to learn how to do the harder job just so they can earn the exact same amount. Why bother?

Personally, I wish they'd raise taxes and more to the point REDUCE SPENDING. Everywhere. Not just reduce the increase, reduce the total amount. On wars. On government grants to business. On roads to nowhere. On the arts. On your sacred cow. On mine. EVERYTHING. Government is a coordinating entity for states, not a CONTROLLING entity. But that's not at all how it seem to run, for multiple decades now. (Here's a hint: the Government is a sink (load), not a source (generator.) THINK about that for a minute - all they do is redirect money-flows.) And BTW, I thought it was the LEFT-wing media. No, really.