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<b><i>Online Extra:</b></i> Florida: Uber Drivers Are Contractors, Not Employees
Uber drivers in Florida will be considered independent contractors rather than employees, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity determined on Dec. 3 in a victory for the app-based ridesharing company.
The decision reverses an earlier state decision and marks Florida's stance in a debate facing government agencies and courts across the country as Uber becomes ubiquitous.
'Technology is allowing hundreds of thousands of people to go into business for themselves,' DEO Executive Director Jesse Panuccio wrote in his decision. 'Those in business for themselves may not have the same guarantees and benefits of those in the employ of others, but there are many other benefits of being your own boss. ' Technological advances are opening up that dream to many more people, and we should not malign (or perhaps misclassify) that trend as worker misclassification.'
An independent contractor designation means the'San Francisco-based company'can avoid paying drivers' unemployment benefits, workers' compensation and other employee-related costs.
The ruling followed Uber's appeal of a state revenue department decision in May to classify former Uber drivers Darrin McGillis and Melissa Ewers as company employees, entitling them to unemployment benefits after Uber cut them from the service.
McGillis said he plans to appeal the decision in Uber's favor to the District Court of Appeal. He is represented by Shannon Liss-Riordan of Lichten & Liss-Riordan in Boston, a high-profile attorney who is leading a California class action suit against Uber claiming misclassification of workers.
Celia Ampel writes for the Daily Business Review, an ALM sibling of Employment Law Strategist.
Uber drivers in Florida will be considered independent contractors rather than employees, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity determined on Dec. 3 in a victory for the app-based ridesharing company.
The decision reverses an earlier state decision and marks Florida's stance in a debate facing government agencies and courts across the country as Uber becomes ubiquitous.
'Technology is allowing hundreds of thousands of people to go into business for themselves,' DEO Executive Director Jesse Panuccio wrote in his decision. 'Those in business for themselves may not have the same guarantees and benefits of those in the employ of others, but there are many other benefits of being your own boss. ' Technological advances are opening up that dream to many more people, and we should not malign (or perhaps misclassify) that trend as worker misclassification.'
An independent contractor designation means the'San Francisco-based company'can avoid paying drivers' unemployment benefits, workers' compensation and other employee-related costs.
The ruling followed Uber's appeal of a state revenue department decision in May to classify former Uber drivers Darrin McGillis and Melissa Ewers as company employees, entitling them to unemployment benefits after Uber cut them from the service.
McGillis said he plans to appeal the decision in Uber's favor to the District Court of Appeal. He is represented by Shannon Liss-Riordan of Lichten & Liss-Riordan in Boston, a high-profile attorney who is leading a California class action suit against Uber claiming misclassification of workers.
Celia Ampel writes for the Daily Business Review, an ALM sibling of Employment Law Strategist.
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