Is There Really ‘No Typical’ Uber Driver?

Through the Uber mobile app, customers can submit a trip request to find the nearest available Uber driver. Uber drivers use their own cars to transport customers.

In recent a Uber class action lawsuit filed in California, Uber drivers allege that Uber misclassifies its workers as Uber independent contractors instead of official employees with full benefits.

These Uber lawsuits claim that Uber does this in order to avoid many costs associated with employees, including unemployment insurance, workers compensation, Social Security, and other benefits.

The Uber company, founded in 2009 and recently valued at $50 billion, argues that its main business is providing a platform for drivers to offer their own services as Uber independent contractors.

Uber has argued that there is no “typical driver,” so the situation described in the Uber class action lawsuit cannot be combined with other drivers.

However, Uber’s own blog posts appear to negate this argument. Uber published a blog post shortly after U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen granted class action status to the Uber lawsuit.

The post does state again, in agreement with Uber’s argument in court, that “there really is no typical driver.” However, the post goes on to make blanket statements about “most drivers” for the company.

For instance it says that “most drivers said they love being their own boss…Most drivers who use the Uber app already have full-time careers or part-time jobs….most drivers vary the number of hours they drive each week significantly.”

The post also makes less sweeping generalizations, with qualifiers like “many” and “about” — but these statements can still be attributed to a “typical” Uber driver. “Many are students or retirees. About half of drivers in the U.S. work less than 10 hours per week.”

In another recent blog post from August, titled “The Top 10 Facts You May Not Know About Uber Driver Partners,” Uber published some more specific statistics about their employees, saying that “87 percent of driver-partners said that a major reason they drive on the Uber platform is to be their own boss and set their own schedule.”

An Uber representative, Jessica Santillo, argues that “these numbers show the tremendous diversity among our driver partners.” Santillo further writes that “no two drivers are alike” because each of these commonalities between Uber driver-partners is shared less than 100 percent of the time.

Generally, in order for something to be considered “typical” in a class action lawsuit, it does not need to be true 100 percent of the time – “most of the time” or “a majority of the time” suffices.

Judge Chen did grant class action status to the Uber lawsuit, disregarding Uber’s argument about having “no typical driver.” Despite this, Uber has continued this argument in their blog posts and may continue in court.

If you or someone you know has worked as an Uber driver and has been classified as an Uber independent contractor, you may be able to file an Uber lawsuit.

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