A Union judge has thrown out a $ 100 million class - action settlement offered by Uber to its drivers , telephone the proposal “ not fairish , enough , and sensible . ”
U.S. District Judge Edward Chenrejected the ride sharing company ’s offeron Thursday . The original lawsuitcontended , among other things , that drivers should be classed as employees rather than contractors , and that they should be paid back for the toll of gasoline and vehicle sustenance .
The colonization propose by Uber would have awarded $ 100 million to about 385,000 current and former drivers operating in California and Massachusetts . According to MarketWatch , the sum would have would have amounted to a paltry $ 24 for most drivers — just about how much it costs to take up a low railroad car in Boston . ( It also would haverequiredthe drivers remain as contractor . )
accord to Reuters , some drivers filed sound objections , contend that the $ 100 million sum was significantly less than the $ 850 million in damages the drivers could have been awarded had they won the suit .
Chen also was n’t pleased with the breakdown of the settlement—$16 million of the totalwould only have gone to the driversif Uber ’s evaluation balloon to 1.5 times its current value after an IPO . Uber on the face of it could n’t promise that would happen , and Chen say $ 84 million was a “ square bank discount ” on what the drivers could have walked away with .
In a lurid twist , Uber was not pleased with the conclusion . “ The settlement , mutually agreed by both sides , was just and sensible . We ’re thwarted in this decision and are take a look at our options,”spokesman Matt Kallman say NPR . The two sides could still add up to an concord ; if not , the suit could go to trial run .
Uber ’s involuntariness to shell out simoleons is n’t surprising — it is a business sector , and one born in Silicon Valley — but the apparent comfort with which it would chicane its drivers is n’t that shameful , either . After all , news brokeyesterdaythat the company was looking toward a future in which drivers were n’t even necessary . ( Remember when the companyeffectively told customersnot to tip their driver ? )
“ It feel like we ’re just rentals,”one machine driver told theGuardian . “ We ’re kind of like placeholders until the engineering science get along out . ”
[ Engadget , Reuters ]
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