Battle Over Uber Drivers' Employment Status Resurfaces in Europe
July 21 2020 - 9:22AM
Dow Jones News
By Parmy Olson
LONDON -- Two legal developments in Europe this week are putting
a renewed focus on Uber Technologies Inc.'s global battle over the
employment status of its drivers.
The company began a last-ditch appeal to the U.K. Supreme Court
Tuesday to overturn a series of court decisions that its British
drivers were entitled to certain worker benefits like paid
vacation. Meanwhile, in the Netherlands several drivers have
demanded that Uber reveal how its algorithms manage drivers and
their profiles behind the scenes.
The case at the U.K. Supreme Court could lead to higher labor
costs for Uber in the U.K., and have ramifications for so-called
gig-economy workers in other roles like food delivery.
Uber has been fighting the issue of driver rights in multiple
regions. Last week Massachusetts became the second U.S. state after
California to sue Uber and Lyft over how both companies classified
drivers, arguing they should be treated as employees with the right
to receive certain benefits.
A Canada's Supreme Court made a ruling in June that opens the
door to a class-action lawsuit aimed at forcing Uber to recognize
its drivers as employees, and offer benefits like minimum wage and
paid vacation.
The coronavirus pandemic has made the issue of driver benefits
more pressing as many struggled during the lockdown to find
passengers and earn a wage. Tom Millen, an Uber driver in the U.K.,
said his weekly earnings had dropped from $1,400 a week to zero
during the lockdown.
Drivers also complained, pre-pandemic, of being logged into the
app and running up costs when there were no passengers for long
periods.
Uber has argued that traditional taxi and car-service drivers
have long been independent contractors, and that changing the
status of its drivers would reduce their flexibility. "The vast
majority of drivers want to work independently," said Uber's
regional manager for Northern and Eastern Europe, Jamie
Heywood.
Mr. Heywood added that Uber had granted more benefits to its
U.K. drivers over the past few years, such as free insurance to
cover sickness or injury, as well as maternity and paternity
payments. Uber says drivers in London earn about GBP11 per hour
after costs on average, which is above the U.K.'s minimum wage.
The Supreme Court hearing, which took place virtually on
Tuesday, goes back to the decision of an employment tribunal in
2016 which ruled Uber's U.K.-based drivers were entitled to rights
such as paid holidays and the minimum wage. The company appealed
the decision twice and lost in both instances.
A final judgment isn't expected till later this year and Uber
wouldn't be able to appeal again if it loses. Instead, a further
court hearing may be needed to help decide how it should put the
new ruling into practice.
The case was originally brought by Uber drivers James Farrar and
Yaseen Aslam, who argued the company managed drivers through its
app.
On Monday, Mr. Farrar and three other Uber drivers in the U.K.
also launched a separate court request demanding access to their
personal data, held by the company, and for Uber to provide
information on how its algorithms manage drivers behind the
scenes.
In a response to an earlier request by Mr. Farrar for his data,
Uber had inadvertently sent him internal communications from 2016,
Mr. Farrar said. The internal emails, seen by The Wall Street
Journal, show Uber's support agents adding tags to Mr. Farrar's
profile such as "negative attitude," when he had requested a refund
for parking at an airport.
"Uber conceals its control in its algorithm," Mr. Farrar said in
an interview. "We must have access to our data and to the
algorithms because that's how we understand how we're being
managed, and if we can't evidence that, we can't get our
rights."
Uber said it provides personal data to drivers and riders who
request it. The company didn't comment on the internal emails sent
to Mr. Farrar, which featured in the court request.
A person familiar with Uber's processes said tags added to
drivers' internal profiles are primarily for support agents and
didn't have any bearing on Uber's algorithm for matching drivers
with riders.
However, information handed over as part of that data request
could influence the wider debate over whether Uber drivers should
be classified as workers, according to Anton Ekker, a Dutch lawyer
who is representing the drivers in the court application.
The request was filed in Amsterdam, where Uber's European
business is based. It could either result in either Uber divulging
further data on the drivers and an explanation on the workings of
its algorithms, or a court hearing.
The application demands details on how Uber's algorithms
calculate drivers' wages and offer them work. It also seeks
information on how their driver ratings are calculated.
Write to Parmy Olson at parmy.olson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 21, 2020 09:07 ET (13:07 GMT)
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