Uber loses UK case on worker rights, expected to appeal
LONDON — Uber pledged Wednesday to challenge a U.K. Court of Appeal decision that drivers should be classed as workers rather than self-employed employees, a verdict that has potentially wide-ranging implications for the rapidly growing gig economy and the rules that govern it.
The challenge sets up a showdown in Britain’s Supreme Court that will determine whether the drivers will be able to claim the rights open to workers such as the minimum wage and paid holidays.
Unions rejoiced at Uber’s third loss in the courts on the issue, and said it was an early Christmas present for those working in the gig economy, where people work job-to-job with little security and few employment rights.
“We’re now at a hat trick of judgments against Uber, they keep appealing and keep losing,” said Tim Roache, the general-secretary of the GMB union. “Uber should just accept the verdict and stop trying to find loopholes that deprive people of their hard-won rights and hard-earned pay.”