Uber has agreed to pay $20 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the ride-share service of classifying drivers as contractors to avoid paying them minimum wage and providing benefits.

The settlement filed late Monday noted that parties involved in the six-year-old suit still have a "bona fide" dispute regarding whether any specific amount of wages are due to drivers.

The proposed deal requires the approval of a federal judge presiding over the case.

The case filed in August 2013 covers Uber drivers in California and Massachusetts who provided rides for passengers any time from then to February 28 of this year who were not bound by an arbitration clause.

An estimated 13,600 drivers were affected. Uber faces a slew of arbitration claims by drivers not represented by the class-action suit.

"Uber has changed a lot since 2013," the San Francisco-based company said in a statement, noting it has added a driver rewards program as well as an option to let riders tip drivers.

"We're pleased to reach a settlement on this matter and we'll continue working hard to improve the quality, security and dignity of independent work."

The settlement also called for Uber to make changes including no longer deactivating drivers' accounts for accepting few rides and creating a formal appeals process for drivers dropped from the service.

The deal does not resolve the big question of whether "gig economy" workers such as Uber drivers are independent contractors or should be considered by law to be employees with rights regarding pay, gratuities and benefits.

The ridesharing behemoth set to launch a stock offering soon is aiming beyond sharing car rides to becoming the "Amazon of transportation" in a future where people share instead of owning vehicles.

Under Uber's plans, commuters could ride an e-scooter to a transit station, take a train then grab an e-bike, ride share or e-scooter at the arrival station to complete a journey all done using an Uber smartphone app.

Uber is steering toward a keenly anticipated stock market debut that will follow an initial public offering of shares by US rival Lyft.

Related Links
Car Technology at SpaceMart.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Waymo to sell its self-driving tech to outside firms
San Francisco (AFP) March 6, 2019
Waymo, the former Google car division developing self-driving technology, said Wednesday it would sell a key innovation to companies that don't compete with its autonomous cars. The California-based unit of Google parent Alphabet will offer its lidar sensors, which measure distance with pulses of laser light, to companies in robotics, security, agricultural technology and other sectors. "Our custom lidars have been instrumental in making Waymo the first company in the world to put fully self-dri ... read more