The U.Ok.’s prime courtroom dominated {that a} group of former drivers for Uber Applied sciences Inc. had been entitled to a minimal wage and different advantages whereas working for the corporate, dealing a setback to Uber and different gig-economy corporations in world-wide battles over their employment mannequin.
The U.Ok.’s Supreme Courtroom, in a unanimous resolution issued Friday, upheld decrease courtroom selections that granted the group of 25 drivers a kind of U.Ok. employment standing at Uber. The corporate had appealed these rulings, sustaining that its car-service and food-delivery drivers are unbiased contractors, with out worker rights.
Whereas Friday’s resolution straight applies solely to the previous Uber drivers concerned, labor activists say it units a possible precedent for others within the U.Ok. who work for firms within the gig economic system, the place apps distribute particular person duties to a pool of those that the app makers regard as unbiased contractors.
Uber mentioned that the choice doesn’t routinely reclassify all of its U.Ok. drivers, and that it’s unrelated to its Uber Eats food-delivery enterprise. The corporate mentioned that for the reason that case was filed it has added driver advantages reminiscent of insurance coverage for illness and harm.
“We’re dedicated to doing extra and can now seek the advice of with each energetic driver throughout the U.Ok. to grasp the adjustments they wish to see,” mentioned Jamie Heywood, Uber’s regional chief for Northern and Jap Europe.
