The ruling by Britain’s Supreme Court this week that the drivers of the ride hailing company Uber should be treated as employees and were entitled to worker rights such as the minimum wage.
While this ruling is limited to a handful of the company’s driver sin London, analysts said that this ruling can have wide ranging impact for the company as well as other companies and millions of workers in the gig economy.
Uber currently identifies its drivers as self-employed which means that such drivers are only afforded minimal protections according to law. The Silicon Valley-based company has tried to hold on to this status for its drivers for a long time now and analysts day that the company considers this to be crucial for its business model.
However the company is faced with legal action in a number of cities around the world amid criticisms that the vehicles of the company increase congestion and take business from regular taxis.
One of the major legal battles that the company faces is in the city of London where the company’s licence was revoked in 2017 by Transport for London because of the approach of the company in failing to report serious criminal offences and about the background checks on drivers. After the company made changes to improve relations with city authorities, Uber was given a 15-month licence in London in 2018. A two month licence given to the company in September 2019 expired last Monday.
And on charges that the app compromised on passenger safety, its London operating licence was cancelled in November 2019 for the second time in just over two years.
In the United States, Uber’s case that challenged a city law that sought to limit the number of licenses for ride hailing services was dismissed in New York in November 2019.
And in September that year, the company also attempted to overturn another regulation that sought to limit how much time its drivers could spend moving around in busy Manhattan area without passengers. And Uber and its US rival Lyft Inc did not attend a US congressional hearing in September 2019 organized on the safety, labour and congestion issues caused byh the company as US lawmakers threaten tighter regulations.
A case was filed a driver of the company in September 2019 over charges of misrepresenting its drivers as independent contractors.
And a long standing lawsuit that was filed by drivers claiming their status to be employees and hence their entitlement to certain wage protections was settled by Uber in March 2019 for $20 million,
Another case was filed by a law firm in Australia in May 2019 seeking a class action on behalf of thousands of taxi and chartered drivers over charges that the operations of Uber were illegal and financially harmful to them.
In December 2018, the highest court of Germany ruled as illegal a now defunct limousine service offered by Uber but taken out of service in 2014 was illegal which was a major setback for the company in Europe’s largest economy.
And in the Netherlands, about 2.3 million euros ($2.79 million) was paid by the company in March 2019 for settlement of a case in which it was found the Uber had offered its services without licenses in 2014-2015.
In India however, Uber and its local rival Ola were found not to have broken 2.3 million euros ($2.79 million) in November 2018 after a complaint about the pricing strategy of the companies was filed with the country’s regulators.
,
Regulators in Austria had suspended the services of Uber for two days in 2018 because of a law suit filed by a local taxi firm’.
(Source:www.usnews.com)
While this ruling is limited to a handful of the company’s driver sin London, analysts said that this ruling can have wide ranging impact for the company as well as other companies and millions of workers in the gig economy.
Uber currently identifies its drivers as self-employed which means that such drivers are only afforded minimal protections according to law. The Silicon Valley-based company has tried to hold on to this status for its drivers for a long time now and analysts day that the company considers this to be crucial for its business model.
However the company is faced with legal action in a number of cities around the world amid criticisms that the vehicles of the company increase congestion and take business from regular taxis.
One of the major legal battles that the company faces is in the city of London where the company’s licence was revoked in 2017 by Transport for London because of the approach of the company in failing to report serious criminal offences and about the background checks on drivers. After the company made changes to improve relations with city authorities, Uber was given a 15-month licence in London in 2018. A two month licence given to the company in September 2019 expired last Monday.
And on charges that the app compromised on passenger safety, its London operating licence was cancelled in November 2019 for the second time in just over two years.
In the United States, Uber’s case that challenged a city law that sought to limit the number of licenses for ride hailing services was dismissed in New York in November 2019.
And in September that year, the company also attempted to overturn another regulation that sought to limit how much time its drivers could spend moving around in busy Manhattan area without passengers. And Uber and its US rival Lyft Inc did not attend a US congressional hearing in September 2019 organized on the safety, labour and congestion issues caused byh the company as US lawmakers threaten tighter regulations.
A case was filed a driver of the company in September 2019 over charges of misrepresenting its drivers as independent contractors.
And a long standing lawsuit that was filed by drivers claiming their status to be employees and hence their entitlement to certain wage protections was settled by Uber in March 2019 for $20 million,
Another case was filed by a law firm in Australia in May 2019 seeking a class action on behalf of thousands of taxi and chartered drivers over charges that the operations of Uber were illegal and financially harmful to them.
In December 2018, the highest court of Germany ruled as illegal a now defunct limousine service offered by Uber but taken out of service in 2014 was illegal which was a major setback for the company in Europe’s largest economy.
And in the Netherlands, about 2.3 million euros ($2.79 million) was paid by the company in March 2019 for settlement of a case in which it was found the Uber had offered its services without licenses in 2014-2015.
In India however, Uber and its local rival Ola were found not to have broken 2.3 million euros ($2.79 million) in November 2018 after a complaint about the pricing strategy of the companies was filed with the country’s regulators.
,
Regulators in Austria had suspended the services of Uber for two days in 2018 because of a law suit filed by a local taxi firm’.
(Source:www.usnews.com)