Thursday, June 9, 2016

Austin Ridesharing Drivers Sue Uber, Lyft

Former drivers for ridesharing services Uber and Lyft have sued the two services for violating labor laws, over their abrupt shutdown of the services after the defeat of Proposition 1 last month. The lawsuits claim that Uber and Lyft violated the "WARN Act", a federal law which requires companies to give employees at least 60 days notice before a mass layoff. That law does not cover contractors, however, the lawsuits claims that employees of the two services ought to be considered employees, given the amount of control exerted by the two over drivers. Uber and Lyft abruptly shut down on May 9th, after a high profile effort to overturn the city's requirement to fingerprint their drivers.