In early 2020, hundreds of drivers — led by Southern California advocacy group Rideshare Drivers United — filed claims with the state towards Uber and Lyft. They alleged the businesses had illegally handled them as unbiased contractors and owed them greater than $1.3 billion in wages, bills and damages.
Now, the state is about to start settlement negotiations with the ride-hailing giants. And drivers need the California lawyer basic and the labor commissioner to take their calls for into consideration throughout the closed-door talks.
Individuals who actively drove for Uber and Lyft between 2016 and 2020 could possibly be eligible for the potential settlement, which most likely includes greater than 250,000 drivers, in keeping with Rideshare Drivers United.
To press their calls for, dozens of drivers in neon inexperienced T-shirts rallied Wednesday morning exterior Los Angeles Metropolis Corridor, in addition to in San Diego and San Francisco, asking that the state push for a settlement settlement that recoups all misplaced wages and damages, or establishes further pay boosts and office protections for drivers. Demonstrators held indicators studying, “Uber cheats” and “My Boss Lyfted My Cash.”
“Our first precedence is to get again the cash that was stolen,” stated Nicole Moore, president of Rideshare Drivers United, referring to wage theft claims. “The one means they need to commerce away any of that cash is to get honest requirements.”
Moore stated a settlement might assist set up a price card below which drivers are paid a minimal of $1.75 per mile and 60 cents per minute — a mannequin much like that adopted in New York Metropolis.
The protest got here forward of a mediation session scheduled for Monday with Uber. A session with Lyft is scheduled for April 8.
Uber spokesperson Zahid Arab stated the corporate hoped to lastly resolve the case, noting that California voters authorized a legislation in 2020 permitting drivers to work as unbiased contractors.
“Drivers come to Uber exactly due to the distinctive flexibility that it offers…The voters of California have spoken — overwhelmingly — and we look ahead to placing these years-old issues behind us,” Arab stated in an e mail.
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Lyft didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The negotiations contain not solely the California labor commissioner, with whom drivers had filed their wage claims, but in addition the state lawyer basic. Joined by town attorneys of Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, they sued Uber and Lyft to power the businesses to instantly classify drivers as staff and accused the businesses of dodging native and state payroll taxes.
Drivers who had been misclassified as unbiased contractors throughout the goal interval had been denied extra time, meal and relaxation breaks and mileage reimbursement, the lawsuits stated.
These claims, in addition to a number of different non-public lawsuits, were combined right into a coordinated motion in San Francisco Superior Courtroom so {that a} single choose might determine all the problems in a single place.
Uber and Lyft accused California authorities of losing time and assets on wage claims, contending that almost all of California drivers needed to work as unbiased contractors relatively than staff, and that the state’s enforcement efforts would stifle the expansion of the trade.
The coordinated lawsuit was paused whereas Uber and Lyft launched an finally unsuccessful try to dam the state from implementing wage and hour legal guidelines, arguing that their arbitration agreements with particular person drivers prevented the state from doing so.
Leila Stevenson, heart holding flag, a former Uber and Lyft driver from Claremont, joins rideshare drivers in entrance of Los Angeles Metropolis Corridor as a part of a statewide occasion.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Occasions)
In November 2020, voters authorized Proposition 22, the poll initiative backed by Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and different gig financial system firms. The measure exempted the businesses from a provision in state labor legislation, permitting them to categorise drivers for his or her ride-hailing and supply companies as unbiased contractors relatively than as staff.
The poll initiative was upheld by the state Supreme Court last year.
Christine Lee, a spokesperson for the California Division of Justice, declined to touch upon negotiations.
The company “stays unwavering in our dedication to face up for the rights of employees to obtain the advantages and protections to which they’re legally entitled. We gained’t be capable of touch upon ongoing litigation,” the spokesperson stated in an e mail.
Uber and Lyft drivers say their work circumstances and pay have declined in recent times.
Lyft driver Yasha Timenovich, 48, who started driving in 2014, stated he works 12 hours a day, seven days per week, and but nonetheless struggles to make ends meet.
The Hollywood resident stated that whereas ride-hailing and supply firms are elevating costs for patrons, drivers get an more and more small share resulting from “loopy” and “inconsistent” charges.
Earlier this week, for a experience the place the passenger paid $54.99, Timenovich earned simply $24.15, after the corporate deducted $29.34 for “business auto insurance coverage & different bills,” $0.10 for “taxes & gov’t charges,” and $1.40 for Lyft’s earnings, in keeping with a screenshot of the app reviewed by The Occasions.
“How do they justify this?” he stated. “What’s left for me?”
Karen Vandenberg, 64, a San Diego-based Uber driver, stated that beforehand she may need been in a position to make $250 in a day earlier than subtracting fuel and different bills. However to make that a lot at this time, she may need to work for a number of days. Automotive issues compelled her off the street for a number of months, when she had to interchange her automobile’s transmission twice in 2023, costing her a complete of roughly $10,000.
“It was a very long time that my automobile was out,” Vandenberg stated. “I didn’t have cash to pay for one more transmission, so it sat there. It simply obtained irritating — not solely that, however the fixed oil adjustments and brake adjustments and tire adjustments and fuel.”
Uber and Lyft have disputed accusations by drivers of declining pay. The businesses argue they’ve invested a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in protections and advantages afforded by Proposition 22. Uber stated that since January 2021, it has invested greater than $1 billion in direct driver advantages, which embrace a minimal earnings assure, a healthcare stipend and occupational accident insurance coverage.
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