The California Labor Commissioner’s Office has filed separate lawsuits against transportation companies Uber and Lyft for committing wage theft by misclassifying employees as independent contractors, which deprived their drivers of a host of legal protections such as paid sick leave and reimbursement of drivers’ expenses, in violation of California labor law.In 2018, the California Supreme Court’s Dynamex ruling established the “ABC test” for determining whether a worker is an employee under various California labor laws. Under the ABC test, workers are considered employees unless they are free from control from the hiring entity, perform work outside of the hiring entity’s usual business, and engage in an independently established trade or occupation.The lawsuits seek to recover amounts owed to all of Uber’s and Lyft’s drivers, including the nearly 5,000 drivers who have filed claims for owed wages with the Labor Commissioner’s Office. Moreover, the lawsuits seek recovery for a wider range of statutory violations and damages than those asserted in individual wage claims and other lawsuits.The lawsuits, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, ask the court to order Uber and Lyft to stop misclassifying their employees and provide the protections available to all employees under the Labor Code.The suits also seek the recovery of unpaid wages, penalties, and interest, as well as civil penalties and any costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees incurred by the Labor Commissioner’s Office.The Labor Commissioner’s Office estimates that Uber and Lyft each employ more than 100,000 drivers. Amounts collected by the Labor Commissioner for unpaid wages liquidated damages owed to workers, penalties owed to workers, and reimbursement of business expenses owed to workers will be distributed to all drivers who worked for Uber or Lyft during the period covered by this lawsuit, not just to those drivers who filed individual claims with the Labor Commissioner.
