LYFT LOSES PUSH VS. WAGE RULES

Said e-hail regs favor Uber, but appeal goes nowhere

A state appeals court on Tuesday sank Lyft’s attempt to overturn the city’s minimum wage rules for e-hail drivers.

Lyft sued the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission in 2019, arguing the rules — which established the first minimum wage for app-based drivers in the country — were biased toward Uber.

State Supreme Court Justice Andrea Masley shot down Lyft’s suit in May 2019.

A five-judge Appellate Division panel on Tuesday upheld Masley’s ruling, saying in a written decision that the TLC’s rate-setting method “has a rational basis and was not unreasonable.”

The pay rules, imposed in 2018, set minimum per-trip charges designed to ensure drivers — who are self-employed — earn at least $17.22 per hour, to cover the $15 minimum wage plus $2.22 they would owe in payroll taxes.

Uber does a majority of the city’s app-based car rides, and Lyft claimed the Taxi and Limousine Commission’s procedure for calculating the per-trip charges were biased in their competitor’s favor.

“Contrary to petitioners’ argument, there is no requirement that TLC articulate its rationale for choosing company-specific utilization rates ... provided that the record reveals that the rule had a rational basis,” the appellate judges wrote. “We’re pleased with this ruling — it will help hardworking drivers during this very difficult time,” said city Law Department spokesman Nicholas Paolucci.

Lyft spokesman CJ Macklin said thousands of drivers have stopped working for the company since the new minimum wage rules took effect because they make their schedules less flexible. “The rule has already resulted in 10,000 fewer New Yorkers being able to earn on our platform,” said Macklin. “We will continue fighting for drivers and are currently exploring all our options.”

E-hail drivers who rely on the minimum wage have been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused dips in transportation across all sectors in the city.

App-based companies like Uber and Lyft completed an average of 427,000 trips per day in New York during October, city data show. That’s a 37% decrease from the 682,000 daily trips the companies did during the same month of 2019.