Four Uber drivers have been deemed valid employees of the firm by the Employment Court of New Zealand, setting the stage for other nations to follow suit and compel the ride-hailing giant to classify its drivers as workers rather than independent contractors.
The Chief Judge of the Employment Court, Christina Inglis, concluded that each of the four drivers had been working for Uber while providing transportation services.
The Uber drivers were involved in a class-action case that was brought in the nation in July.
At various times between August 2016 and May 2022, the four drivers had formal contracts with the various organisations.
The judgement, which was released late on Tuesday, stated that the written agreements “clearly specified that the firms were not employers but rather providers of the App that links drivers to the digital platform and facilitators of the interactions on the platform.”
Following the US Department of Labor’s proposal for significant changes to how gig workers should be categorised, New Zealand made its decision.
The Employment Court emphasised the necessity of adopting a purposeful approach to figuring out the status of the drivers, taking into account the relevant legislation and its function in guarding against vulnerable workers, regulating the labour market, and ensuring the maintenance of minimum standards.
The court determined that substantial control over Uber drivers was also exercised in other ways, such as incentive programmes that encourage reliability and quality and withdrawal of awards for violations of Uber’s policies or declines in quality as determined by user ratings.
The judgement noted that “drivers were prohibited from organising substitute drivers to undertake services on their behalf or from building their own relationships with riders.”
According to the court, Uber actually had a lot of control over each of the drivers.
It was maintained that the drivers were employees of that company; it wasn’t just a business relationship, and they weren’t independent contractors.
The decision could potentially affect Uber drivers all across the world.
