Lyft loses bid to duck min. wage

Lyft’s path to an initial public offering hit a bump in the road Tuesday when a judge ruled against the ridesharing company’s bid to halt a new minimum wage for its New York City drivers.

Lyft claims that the pay raise implemented by the city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission actually hurts drivers because it increases the price for passengers, who are therefore requesting fewer rides.

But TLC lawyers said Lyft is simply trying to cap drivers’ earnings.

Judge Andrea Masley denied Lyft’s request to temporarily halt the $17.22 per hour minimum wage. She’ll rule within 30 days on whether to make her order permanent.

“We are pleased the judge denied Lyft’s motion to block the wage protection rules for now and we hope she will uphold the city’s rules in her written decision,” Independent Drivers Guild member and Lyft driver Tina Raveneau said in a statement.

“Eighty thousand New Yorkers serve as professional drivers for apps like Lyft and we deserve the protection and the dignity of a livable minimum wage,” Raveneau said.

Lyft sued the TLC in February, saying it supported the wage increase law passed by the City Council, but not the complex formula the TLC used to implement it.

The TLC says Lyft must pay a wage based on the time drivers spend with passengers. Lyft gripes that the way the wage is figured will drive up the price of its service, and hand over app ride market to Uber.

The TLC rules “hurt earning opportunities for drivers, and provide advantages to certain companies over others,” Lyft spokeswoman Campbell Matthews said in a statement. “We appreciated the opportunity to make our case in court today, and look forward to the judge’s forthcoming ruling.”

The wage battle picked up speed as Lyft set a price range for its initial public offering, which could value the company at about $20 billion. Lyft predicted investors would buy the stock for between $62 and $68 a share, raising as much as $2.1 billion.