In a big win for driver advocates that could have cascading effects for Uber in New York State, a New York administrative law judge has found that three Uber drivers and their "similarly situated" colleagues in New York City are employees under state labor law.
What that means, in practice, is that a state judge believes Uber must provide unemployment insurance for the three Uber drivers named in the case, as well as an indeterminate number of "similarly situated" drivers in New York City.
viz, not independent contractors.
New York Taxi Workers Alliance executive director Bhairavi Desai said, “The message here is simple: If you're going to control the workers to maximize your profits off their labor, you owe them their rights and benefits under the law."
The case, brought by the Taxi Workers Alliance and Brooklyn Legal Services, was first reported by POLITICO New York. It is one of a series of legal challenges Uber is battling across the country and the world as it tries to avoid having to pay for the sort of benefits employers provide.
http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2017/06/13/state-labor-court-finds-uber-an-employer-112733
perhaps we'll hear the language of profit off labor's back from ... oh i dunno ... the UAW?