Uber class action alleges company fails to pay adequate minimum, overtime wages

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Uber wages class action overview: 

• Who: Four Uber drivers are suing the rideshare company. 
• Why: The plaintiffs say the company misclassified them as independent contractors. 
• Where: The Uber wages class action was filed in a California federal court. 

Uber misclassified its drivers as independent contractors, underpaying them on wages, overtime and other benefits they were due, a new class action lawsuit alleges. 

Plaintiffs Taje Gill, Craig Lambert, William Collignon and Christina Ferreira filed the class action lawsuit against Uber Technologies Inc., Raiser LLC, Portier LLC and Schleuder LLC on Feb. 3 in a California federal court, alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). 

The plaintiffs are all current or former drivers who opted out of the arbitration agreement in their employment agreements with Uber, they say.

“Uber has misclassified its drivers and thereby deprived them of protections they are entitled to under the FLSA and California Labor Code,” the lawsuit alleges. 

Based on the drivers’ alleged misclassification as independent contractors, Uber failed to guarantee and pay its drivers for all of the hours they worked at minimum wage and also failed to pay overtime for hours worked in excess of eight hours per day or forty hours per week. 

Uber also failed to provide properly itemized wage statements for its drivers and made them pay for their own business expenses, including gas, insurance and data, the lawsuit states.

Uber tried to dodge liability through false classification, lawsuit alleges

While Uber attempted a “carve-out” from California statute that requires it to pay its workers as employees, it did not obtain such an exemption, the lawsuit states. 

“Nevertheless, Uber has defied this statute and continued to classify its drivers as independent contractors… This ongoing defiance of the law constitutes willful violation of the California Labor Code,” it says.

Uber tried to “shield itself from liability for its blatant minimum wage violations” by misclassifying its drivers as independent contractors, the drivers say. 

However, Uber drivers are employees, they argue. They say they are required to follow detailed requirements imposed on them by the company, and they are graded, and subject to termination, based on their failure to adhere to these requirements, as an employee is. 

The plaintiffs seek to represent all current and former California Uber drivers and are asking for certification of the class action, unpaid wages, unpaid expenses, damages, fees, costs and a jury trial. 

Meanwhile, a settlement agreement worth $8.4 million between Uber and drivers who argued they were misclassified as independent contractors was last year approved by a California federal judge. 

What do you think of the allegations against Uber in this case? Let us know in the comments. 

The plaintiffs are represented by David R. Markham, Maggie Realin and Lisa Brevard of Markham Law Firm, Catherine E. Anderson of Giskan Solotaroff & Anderson LLP, Roosevelt N. Nesmith of Law Office of Roosevelt N. Nesmith LLC and Russell S. Warren Jr. of Law Office of Russell S. Warren Jr.

The Uber class action lawsuit is Taje Gill, et al. v. Uber Technologies Inc., Case No. 4:23-cv-00518-KAW, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. 

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