Uber and Lyft need to make drivers employees, appeals court rules
In the latest of a back-and-forth battle between the state of California and Uber and Lyft, an appeals court ruled Thursday evening that an injunction issued against the two ride-hailing companies over the status of their drivers was an appropriate measure.
The injunction was issued in August by Judge Ethan Schulman of the San Francisco Superior Court, who ruled that the ride-hailing companies must start classifying their drivers as employees in the state. The judge allowed the companies 10 days to appeal the ruling, which they did.
The First Appellate District court in San Francisco heard arguments from the companies last week and issued its ruling Thursday siding with Schulman. The appeals court said in its 74-page ruling that there was an "overwhelming likelihood" Uber and Lyft are violating California law AB5. That law requires some employers that use independent contractors to reclassify their workers as employees and provide more worker benefits.
"Not only is this a victory for the tens of thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers working to put a roof over their heads and food on the table, this ruling is about fairness, making it clear that these companies must stop shifting their costs onto the taxpayers while their CEO's profit," Mike Feuer, Los Angeles City Attorney, said in a statement.
https://www.cnet.com/news/uber-and-lyft-need-to-make-drivers-employees-appeals-court-rules/
= new reply since forum marked as read
.
.
15 years ago.
The "old-timers" at the cab company I was working for got upset that I was so successful with my fares that they started cheating me - even the dispatchers (some, not all) would force me to stay on a dead call while others grabbed calls that should have been mine.
I had kept track of all my calls in Excell - where they were, and when - made up a timetable sheet and kept it on me while driving - referring to it to see where it would next be busy - ergo - I was almost always in the busiest zone - many times b4 even one other driver had logged in on it.
Got so bad, I submitted a claim with them for lost wages (minimum wage) cuz I was only paid on fares, not time on the job . . . .
They fired me the next shift . . . said I was a contractor, not an employee.
Filed a claim with our Ministry of Labour for wrongful dismissal and lost wages in the amount of around $1800 - not expecting much, but filing the claim only cost me my time to do so.
long story short - approx 6 months later i got a check in the mail from our Ministry of Labour for $10,500, that being the maximum allowable for such a claim, and while they readjusted my unpaid earnings to around $2200, gave me the rest as punitive damages that the cab company had to pay.
I declined the opportunity to force them to rehire me, as I expected things would just get worse.
Got worse anyways - word got out to future prospective employers and despite more than adequate experience for jobs I applied for, was consistently passed over. Appears not to many employers are impressed with employees who know their rights - duh 
Left town, camped and partied all summer ( 10k goes a long way when ur not paying rent 
) - moved back to the tiny town I still live in (retired now)
Sadly - the big guys still "won" -
but I got a piece of them
W