Gig economy – Uber granted right to appeal

Taxi company ‘Uber’ have been granted permission to appeal against the decision that their drivers are workers and not self employed.

The company had argued its drivers were not workers, as they were under no obligation to work at any specific time. The significance of being a ‘worker’ is that an individual is paid holiday pay, national minimum wage and in respect of rest breaks.

This was the first of several employment tribunal cases surrounding the issue of status within the ‘gig economy’. Similar cases against CitySprint, Excel and Pimlico Plumbers were determined by the employment tribunal and higher courts, all of which found the claimants were workers rather than self employed. Suggesting the trend of employers taking on self employed contractors to engage in work through an app may have to change radically.

Whilst the case is being appealed, Uber will not have to apply the employment tribunal decision to its workforce. If their appeal is unsuccessful they will be liable to back pay their drivers for the unpaid benefits and will also incur the added expense of future benefits. This could be extremely detrimental to Uber’s ability to offer a flexible and responsive service to their customers.