After a tribunal determined that the gig economy company had broken the law on minimum wage and holiday pay, a former Uber driver has been awarded more than £20,000 that had been owing to him for more than seven years.
One of the more than 70,000 drivers with whom the company has recently reached settlements is James Farrar, the plaintiff in the historic Supreme Court case that compelled Uber to acknowledge that drivers have more substantial employment rights than it would have previously acknowledged, according to The Guardian.
Uber set aside roughly £465 million, however, it has not said how much it has already had to pay out.
He sued Uber to recover unpaid holiday pay and to increase his pay to at least the minimum wage after deducting waiting time in accordance with the Supreme Court's judgment from 2021.
Uber Consented
The company eventually consented to pay £22,960.85 after discussions with Uber's legal counsel, and employment judge AM Snelson decided to make a judgment in Farrar's favor.
When questioned about the case, Uber acknowledged that it was only one of the tens of thousands of cases the company has lately settled, many of which included gagging provisions. Considering that Farrar rejected any settlement that included a non-disclosure agreement, the same does not hold true in his instance.
In the UK, it is his second legal triumph over Uber. The supreme court rejected Uber's appeal against a landmark labor tribunal decision that determined its drivers should be classified as employees eligible for the minimum salary and paid holidays in February 2021.
This ruling opened the door to reparation payments and maybe improved terms for drivers. The judgment stated that drivers' working time should be calculated from the time they logged on to Uber's app to the time they logged off, which campaigners believed to be crucial. On that basis, many drivers have been successful in obtaining payments.
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What Uber is Doing Now
Uber, however, now considers the start time to be the moment a driver accepts a job. It claimed that this was because its rules had been modified in 2018 to permit drivers to utilize both other platforms and its own. Accordingly, it claimed that it shouldn't be held responsible for any time after 2018 when a driver had the option of accepting employment on a rival's app.
According to recent financial reports, the company had put aside $600 million (£465 million) to resolve cases like these.
Uber has been involved in a number of legal cases filed by drivers, including, class-action lawsuits alleging that Uber misclassified drivers as independent contractors instead of employees. This means that drivers are not entitled to certain benefits and protections under labor law, such as minimum wage, overtime pay, and workers' compensation.
There are also lawsuits alleging that Uber failed to provide adequate safety measures for drivers and passengers. This includes allegations that Uber did not do enough to screen drivers for criminal backgrounds, that it did not provide adequate training for drivers, and that it did not take sufficient steps to prevent sexual assault and other crimes.
Uber also allegedly violated antitrust laws by engaging in anti-competitive practices, in which it used its market power to drive down driver wages and that it conspired with other ride-hailing companies to fix prices.
Related article: Ex-Uber Driver in UK Takes Uber to Court Anew
