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Uber drivers are independent contractors and not employees of the company, said the general counsel of the Federal Labor Council in a notice issued on May 14. This is another sign that drivers and union activists are facing a steep, if not impossible, slope to force Uber to reclassify its drivers as employees.
The opinion, written on April 16 by Jayme Sophir, assistant general counsel at the National Labor Relations Commission, means that it will be much harder for drivers to try to form a union, file a complaint for work or seek federal protection. It is said:
The almost total control of the drivers on their cars, their working hours and their log-in locations, as well as their freedom to work for Uber's competitors, offered them an important opportunity to undertake. Every day, at any free moment, UberX drivers can decide the best way to serve their economic goals: by completing driving requests via the app, working for a shared carpool service or by pursuing a new adventure.
This is the last sign that the federal government agrees with Uber's classification of Uber. The Ministry of Labor recently issued a notice stating that industry workers such as Uber drivers are not eligible for minimum wage or overtime pay. Last year, a federal judge ruled essentially the same way in what would be the first Uber driver rankings under federal law.
This opinion is in line with Uber's own position vis-à-vis its drivers. The company classifies them as independent contractors, arguing that they are in business for themselves and therefore are not eligible for traditional benefits such as overtime, minimum wage protections and the 39, health insurance. However, some Uber drivers dispute this classification and argue that Uber's algorithm has far too much control over their lives to be considered otherwise. Many sued Uber, but most of these cases went to private arbitration.
"We focus on improving the quality and safety of self-employment, while maintaining the flexibility that drivers and couriers tell us they are worth," said a spokesperson on Tuesday. # 39; Uber.
Uber said that he had settled with the vast majority of the 60,000 American drivers who filed arbitration claims regarding their professional status. Uber said the settlement would cost him between $ 146 million and $ 170 million, according to his IPO file. In March, the company said it had settled two other lawsuits with drivers with classification status for $ 20 million.
Earlier this year, a California federal judge ruled that GrubHub drivers are independent contractors and not employees. The decision was seen as a big win for GrubHub because of California's relatively high standard for establishing workers as independent contractors.
Last week, hundreds of Uber drivers went on strike before the company's long-awaited IPO. The drivers stated that they wanted better working conditions and more transparency from Uber regarding salaries and access to the platform. Uber's share price has fallen sharply since the IPO, due to concerns over the company's lack of profitability and the general contraction in the market.
"This NLRB advisory note ignores the reality of Uber's relationship with its drivers and the many ways it controls the conditions of their work," said Laura Padin, senior counsel at the National Employment Law Law Project, in a statement. "But this is no surprise from the Trump administration, which has shamefully defended the interests of big business at the expense of workers at every turn."
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