There Might Be No More Lyft & Uber In California Starting Friday, For Now

[RAMROD 117,010]

Uber and Lyft say they may shut down California rides at 12:01 a.m. on Friday. If so, they plan to keep cars off the road until at least November, when voters weigh in on Proposition 22, their ballot initiative to keep their workers as independent contractors.

 

The potential halt stems from a lawsuit by the state of California and the city attorneys of San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles that says Uber and Lyft are ducking the state’s gig-work law, AB5, by keeping drivers as independent contractors. The state won a temporary injunction that could force drivers to be reclassified as soon as Friday.

 

Here are answers to some questions about what’s going on.

 

Q: Why might Uber and Lyft cease ride service on Friday?

A: The drastic step is their response to a preliminary injunction ordering them to reclassify their drivers as employees immediately. Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman issued the order on Aug. 10 but stayed it for 10 days — until Thursday.

The companies have appealed the injunction and asking the appellate court to pause the order while that appeal proceeds, which could take many months. If the appeals court does stay the injunction, ride-hailing service will continue. If it declines to do so, the companies say they will cease service.

 

Q: What about Uber Eats?

A: Uber’s food delivery service is not affected by the injunction and would continue service as usual.

 

Q: Why can’t Uber and Lyft just comply with the injunction?

A: The companies say they could not possible hire their tens of thousands of drivers as employees “at the flip of a switch.” It’s also likely that they don’t want to set a precedent showing that they can operate under an employment model, since much of their Prop. 22 argument is that employing drivers would be nearly impossible for their business.

 

Full Article at Source:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Uber-and-Lyft-ride-hailing-shutdown-in-15496266.php

[Twitter 14]

I hope they don’t do this in NY. 

[alsemanche 97,796]

Of course they don't want their drivers to be considered employees  God i hate private companies 

[thefamebitch 834]

Let them leave! They’re greedy and do not care about the people who made them rich over the past few years. 

“Gig-work” is just yet another method the US happily promotes to devalues workers and prompts them to work like crazy but never receive healthcare, retirement investments, etc from where they get their paycheck. 

[audrey horne 1,180]

All of these companies (car ride and food delivery services) are avoiding at all price to treat fairly their "self-employed" employees. I don't use any of these services and if you are aware of what's happening backstage, you should considerate boycotting those inhumane companies too.

[Monster647 444]

This might seem like "bad big corp" vs "good common little people" but people fail to consider that there is 100% chance that uber drivers won't be compensated as well if they are required to become full time employees. Current situation is likely a win-win situation for most uber drivers. 

Through uber, people with no qualifications (including people who cannot really speak English) can make about C$50,000 pre-tax per year in Toronto-Canada just by having a car and driver's license. Being a self-employed contractor also allows deducting lots of expenses from taxes (for instance, car maintenance would be deductible expense for business purposes) & gaming the system (if you're self-employed contractor making $50k with a spouse who doesn't work, you add your spouse to your incorporation & record them as an accountant, boom - you have 2 $25k income decreasing tax brackets drastically)... 

Once you become a full-time employee, there are bunch of other expenses that employer incurs which will definitely decrease the pay going to the drivers, apart from all financial gains drivers make through being a contractor. Given the fact that driving uber is not a career but a side income or transitionary financial income for most, decreasing that income won't be beneficial to most drivers in my opinion. 

[Economy 52,842]

On 8/20/2020 at 2:10 PM, alsemanche said:

Of course they don't want their drivers to be considered employees  God i hate private companies 

Yeah but this is also gonna have downsides. Uber has long been a way for many to make a few extra bucks and getting in is easy

 

Start to make it a more standars employee arrangement dont be surprised if a lot of that flexibility that comes with working for these companies to disapear

 

In order for workers to demand employee status that also gives the company the right to demand things u demand from full time employees

 

This might be good for ppl who are doing it full time i dunno if this would be good for the majority of ppl that do it on the side for a few extra bucks

[Economy 52,842]

18 minutes ago, Monster647 said:

This might seem like "bad big corp" vs "good common little people" but people fail to consider that there is 100% chance that uber drivers won't be compensated as well if they are required to become full time employees. This is likely a win-win situation right now for most uber drivers. 

Through uber, people with no qualifications (including people who cannot really speak English) can make about C$50,000 pre-tax per year in Toronto-Canada just by having a car and driver's license. Being a self-employed contractor also allows deducting lots of expenses from taxes (for instance, car maintenance would be deductible expense for business purposes) & gaming the system (if you're self-employed contractor making $50k with a spouse who doesn't work, you add your spouse to your incorporation & record them as an accountant, boom - you have 2 $25k income decreasing tax brackets drastically)... 

Once you become a full-time employee, there are bunch of other expenses that employer incurs which will definitely decrease the pay going to the drivers, apart from all financial gains drivers make through being a contractor. Given the fact that driving uber is not a career but a side income or transitionary financial income for most, decreasing that income won't be beneficial to most drivers in my opinion. 

Yeah thats what i was saying, theres serious downsides to switching over to the standard employee status. Given the majority of ppl do uber on the side for a few extra dollars not as their main source of income, i dont think the majority of ppl would be better off with this

 

Ppl are quick to jump to the Corporate hate wagon without thinking of all the variables at play but theres some circumstances sometimes where proposed changes that are suppostu be better for workers or consumers isnt always the result

[Sneaky Oliver 22,973]

I think the government just want to grab some taxes at those companies. I might be highly uneducated on the topic though. If they shut the service down, the drivers will be unemployed and making zero money at all.