New Jersey , mybeloved home stateand incessant butt of regional jokes , scored a major win for driver — one that could also cost the slumping rideshare company as much as $ 650 million in fine and unpaid tax .
Considerable attention has been ante up to Uber ’s contractor agreement with its drivers , which deprive them of basic worker protections like minimum pay and extra time remuneration . Local laws , likeCalifornia ’s of late - passed AB5 , and rural area - wide ruling like one earlier this weekin Uruguay , have sought to even off for this — but states themselves are also disadvantaged by Uber ’s simulation . Specifically , this monumental contractor workforce restrain the deeply unprofitable company insulated from paying taxes for unemployment and disability policy .
As Bloomberg Lawuncoveredthrough a public records request , New Jersey has for years been hard at body of work test to collect from Uber for those accurate reasons . It evaluate the amount that Uber and foot soldier Rasier LLC , which work on payments to Uber gadget driver , owe at $ 523 million , and it tack together on around $ 119 million in additional penalization and interest .
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi doing the normal thing where you ride a bike and read a tablet at the same timePhoto: Drew Angerer (Getty)
Reached for comment and Uber spokesperson state Gizmodo that “ “ We are challenge this preliminary but incorrect finding , because drivers are independent contractor in New Jersey and elsewhere . ”
States being cheated out of taxes and actor struggling through shaky arrangements are , gratefully , parallel battle . For the intent of collecting the aforementioned taxes , New Jersey ’s Department of Labor made the determination that Uber ’s rideshare drivers are , in fact , employee — which may be a overture to limit full employee status for drivers in the state . Bhairavi Desai , executive theatre director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance , called the ruling “ a edged rebuke of the architects of the gig economy . ”
New York driver made interchangeable inroad last summertime , winning unemployment eligibilitythat Julyand a earnings floorlast December . diligence protections — in the manikin of a cap on the issue of for - hire vehicle in the urban center — were voted in August of 2018 and extendeda year later .
Uber ’s home country of California still leads the scrap in enforcement , however , exceed the contentiousAB5 billin September , open up up rideshare company ( and other businesses ) to hard-and-fast legal challenge for proletarian misclassification . Lyft , Uber , and other allies still mean tofight the law ’s implementation .
After the singleworst initial offering in history , Uber ’s share Mary Leontyne Price has continue to fall , hovering at $ 26.25 per share at the time of this writing — almost one-half of what it debut at nine months ago .
Updated with comment from Uber
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