Contractual or employees? The status of drivers of apps like Uber hangs in the balance again in California, where a judge on Friday deemed unconstitutional and “unenforceable” a November 2020 referendum confirming their independence.
The American leaders in the reservation of cars with drivers, Uber and Lyft, had submitted to a vote a law for the independence of drivers in California, while this American state had adopted in 2019 a text which required them to requalify them as employees . The two companies and other platforms won the game: voters voted 58.6% in favor of “Proposition 22,” which devoted paid work to the task but gave drivers some fringe benefits. This proposal is unconstitutional because it “limits the power of the assembly in the future to define the operators of mobile applications as workers recognized by the law on workers’ compensation,” said Judge Frank Roesh of the court of Alameda, according to the newspaper Sacramento Bee.
“We are going to appeal and we think we are going to win,” responded a spokesperson for Uber. With its competitor Lyft and delivery services, Uber has spent more than $ 200 million to promote a “yes” to Proposition 22. Reclassifying drivers as employees would mean granting them certain rights and benefits, such as unemployment benefits or unemployment benefits. ” possible collective bargaining.
A year ago, three months before the vote, the two Californian companies threatened to completely cut off their service in the state, which would have put tens of thousands of people out of work.
However, drivers remain divided between those who want to be employees and those who prefer to keep the current flexibility.
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