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)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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