Labor News & Commentary November 3, 2023

https://onlabor.org/november-3-2023/

By Julio Colby

Julio Colby is a student at Harvard Law School.

In Today’s News & Commentary: Uber and Lyft agree to pay New York drivers $328 million and implement labor law reforms; and Nascar is accused of discriminating against white men through company DEI programs.

On Thursday, Uber and Lyft agreed to pay their New York drivers $328 million and implement new state labor reforms after state investigations into their employment practices. Under settlements with the New York State Attorney General’s office, the companies will offer paid sick leave, create a minimum “earnings floor,” improve hiring and earnings notices, and pay back the sales tax and other fees they improperly deducted from drivers’ fares from 2014 to 2017 — $290 million for Uber and $38 million for Lyft, paid directly to drivers. In a separate agreement with the New York DOL, Uber promised to provide drivers unemployment benefits by making payments on their behalf into the state’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, including retroactive payments back to 2013. The executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which includes rideshare drivers and brought the initial complaint that led to the investigations, called the settlement “phenomenal” and “life-changing.” But the agreements also halt any further litigation on whether drivers should be classified as employees or independent contractors. According to Uber’s Chief Legal Officer, the settlement “helps put to rest the classification issue in New York,” and Lyft’s Chief Policy Office noted the agreement expands drivers’ “portable benefits through flexible earning opportunities.” According to one Uber official, the company sees the New York agreements as a model to spread to other cities and states, improving drivers’ benefits while retaining the independent contractor relationship.

FULL story at link above.