Is it the ‘End of the legal road’ for Uber?

11 Mar 2020

GMB, the union for private hire drivers, says a French court’s ruling that Uber drivers are employees is the ‘end of the legal road’ for the tech company.

This latest verdict is the third case that GMB has won against Uber in relation to workers’ rights. In October 2016, the Central London Employment Tribunal ruled in GMB's favour – determining that Uber drivers are not self-employed, but are workers, entitled to workers’ rights including holiday pay, a guaranteed minimum wage and an entitlement to breaks.

Uber took its case to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) last year, which ruled against the ride-sharing company. In December 2018 the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling again.

At the Court of Cassation in France, it was held that:

“When the driver goes online on Uber’s digital platform, there’s a relationship of subordination between the driver and the company. Based on that, the driver isn’t providing a service as a self-employed worker but as an employee.”

The court maintained that self-employed persons should be able to do three things — manage their clients themselves, set prices and choose how to execute a task. Uber failed to comply with those three criteria.

Susan Harris, GMB Legal Director, said:

“GMB welcomes the decision from France's highest Court on the employment status of Uber drivers. GMB has, on behalf of its members, had similar success in the UK with our courts recognising that Uber drivers are workers and not self-employed as Uber claims.

“But still Uber persists in using the legal system to avoid its responsibilities to our members; Uber has appealed now to the Supreme Court and we are set to return to court in July 2020.

“GMB calls on Uber to recognise that the judgment in France is the end of the legal road, to abandon their legal challenge in the UK and sit down with GMB, the union for Uber drivers, to discuss the way forward.”

An Uber spokesperson said:

“This decision relates to the case of one specific driver, who hasn’t used the Uber app since 2017. The ruling does not reflect the reasons why drivers choose to use Uber: the independence and freedom to work if, when and where they want. Over the last two years we’ve made many changes to give drivers even more control over how they use Uber, alongside stronger social protections. We’ll keep listening to drivers and introduce further improvements.”