Uber classifies drivers as workers after Supreme Court ruling
Ride-hailing firm will pay its UK drivers minimum wage following court ruling, but has diverged from the court’s interpretation that drivers should be paid from when they log in, not just when passengers are on board
Share this item with your network: By Published: 17 Mar 2021 14:45
Ride-hailing firm Uber has agreed to pay its UK drivers the minimum wage, but only for the time they are assigned to trips, rather than, as the Supreme Court explicitly ruled, from when they log in to the app.
On 19 February 2021, the UK Supreme Court ruled that drivers should be classified as workers rather than self-employed individuals, giving Uber’s roughly 70,000 drivers the right to be paid the national minimum wage, to receive statutory minimum holiday pay and rest breaks, as well as protection from unlawful discrimination and whistleblowing.
TRADE UNIONS hailed the “end of the road for bogus self-employment” today after Uber finally accepted it would have to pay its drivers the minimum wage and provide holiday and pensions.
The ride-hailing giant announced that, as of today, more than 70,000 drivers will be treated as workers under British employment law.
In an email sent out to its customers, Uber said: “Uber drivers in the UK will be paid holiday time, automatically enrolled into a pension plan, and guaranteed to earn at least the National Living Wage.”
Uber’s policy shift followed lengthy legal action by unions and workers, with the Supreme Court ruling last month that its drivers should be treated as workers and are not self-employed.
TENS of thousands of renters are at imminent risk of losing their homes due to a loophole in the eviction ban, campaigners warned today.
In a joint letter to Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick, trade unions and tenant organisations said that an estimated 840,000 people who owe more than six months’ rent could be kicked out as they struggle to make ends meet during the current Covid-19 lockdown.
The warning came as councils expressed fears of a spike in homelessness when protective measures end. A survey published today found that 10 local authorities in England expect to see a wave of evictions soon.
PRECARIOUS university staff are demanding non-essential buildings be shut down and workers placed on furlough after Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s recent declaration of a major incident due to the rapid spread of coronavirus in the capital.
Workers are still providing cleaning and security services in non-essential buildings, while many doing essential work remain on zero-hours contracts without adequate financial support if they have to self-isolate, their union has warned.
The Universities of London branch of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) is demanding hazard pay for essential work and the immediate closure of all non-essential sites, with those workers placed on furlough.