Uber Loses Case

Blog Feb 2021

A significant and long-running legal case – Uber v Aslam and others – has been considered through the Employment Tribunal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal, the Court of Appeal and most recently the Supreme Court.

The basis of the case was that Uber drivers claimed that they were workers for purposes of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and Uber argued that the drivers were self-employed contractors and not workers.

At each stage of the tribunal process the judgement was found in favour of the drivers, and at each stage Uber have appealed this decision, but the case has now concluded at the Supreme Court who have again found that the Uber drivers are workers. This could have a substantial impact to the gig economy.

But what does this mean for Uber? Well, this means that Uber drivers are entitled to claim minimum wage (including back pay for minimum wage), and these claims would be based upon not only when they had a passenger in their cabs, but their whole working day. In an employment tribunal, up to two years’ back pay (potentially more) or £25,000 (whichever is the larger) can be claimed and in the county court, up to six years’ back pay can be claimed. The Uber drivers can also claim 5.6 weeks’ paid annual leave each year, and will have whistleblowing and similar rights. This judgement does not however give them ‘employee’ rights, such as the right to a redundancy payment or to claim unfair dismissal.

There are of course a number of other companies operating in a similar manner to Uber who will be affected by the impact of this case law.

This case has highlighted that tribunals will conduct an examination of the reality of the relationship between the parties and not simply focus on what the documentation states. Furthermore, in Uber’s case, the drivers are ‘workers’ from the moment they switch on their apps, and are available for work in their area, to the time when they switch their apps off at the end of the day (or for a break).