Uber’s Court of Appeal decision will see them taking it all the way to the top
19 December 2018
- Court of Appeal rule Uber drivers are workers who should be entitled to the minimum wage, paid holiday and sick pay.
- Uber have permission to appeal – but will the Supreme Court say anything different?
Aspire Comment
The Court of Appeal’s (“CoA”) decision was released on 19th December 2018 and confirms that Uber’s drivers should be classed as workers rather than self-employed and therefore entitled to the minimum wage and paid annual leave.
The CoA decision upheld the decisions made by both the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal. The most important conclusion being that when the Uber app was switched on, Uber drivers were “workers” for the purposes the Employment Rights Act 1996, the Working Time Regulations 1998 and the National Minimum Wage Act 1998.
Uber has failed to successfully argue that individuals were self-employed contractors and will take their gig economy battle all the way to the top which means, hopefully in 2019, we will see the Supreme Court hand down its next big decision on Employment Status since the Pimlico Plumbers case.