British drivers take Uber to court over employee rights

Two Uber drivers in Britain launched a lawsuit against the ride-sharing cab service on Wednesday for not offering them basic workers’ rights, in the country’s first such case against the California-based firm.

The case, brought by law firm Leigh Day on behalf of the GMB trade union, argues that Uber drivers are workers and under employment law are entitled to receive holiday and sick pay and be paid Britain’s national minimum wage.

“Uber is wrongly classifying its drivers as self-employed with the result that drivers are denied the rights and protections that parliament intended them to have,” said Annie Powell, a lawyer at Leigh Day who is representing the claimants.

Uber, whose European headquarters is in the Netherlands, argues that British drivers should not be allowed to enforce employment rights in British courts but make their claims in Dutch courts instead.

This is not the first time the cab hire service has been accused of violating employment rights.

In April 2016, Uber drivers in California and Massachusetts filed a lawsuit against the company claiming they had been misclassified as independent contractors.

But before the trial could begin in California, the company paid $100 million (91 million euros) to the drivers to settle the lawsuit.