Uber agrees to pay $20 million to settle the class action brought by drivers in the US
In 2013, the ride-hailing platform was sued by a class of 385.000 drivers claiming they were employees of Uber and not independent contractors. The case encompassed drivers from California and Massachusetts who did not agree with Uber’s policy of classifying drivers as independent contractors. Besides the cash settlement, Uber compromised to modify its businesses practices in the two states, including: a. the driver will no longer have their account deactivated for low usage rates; b. the platform will publish a comprehensive policy online and will provide notice before deactivating a driver’s account; c. the platform will provide for quality courses for drivers who have their account deactivated. This settlement is distinct in size from the original 2016 settlement. In 2016, Uber agreed to pay $100 million to 385.000 drivers, but the federal judge rejected the amount ruling it was too low. After the decision, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit limited the size of the class to 13.600 drivers due to Uber’s arbitration clause accepted by a vast number of drivers. Ultimately, the drivers will receive around $ 0.37 cents per mile driven for Uber.