Uber drivers entitled to Worker rights

In the recent case of Aslam and others v Uber BV and others ET/2202550/15, an employment tribunal has held that Uber drivers are workers for the purposes of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 and the Working Time Regulations 1998.

Uber’s case was that it is simply a technology platform which puts drivers in touch with passengers and that it is in no way a provider of taxi services. Uber had complex contractual documentation that purported to underpin the relationships between it, drivers and passengers. The tribunal decided that the contractual documentation did not correspond with reality and, accordingly, disregarded it.

The reality, in the tribunal’s conclusion, was that Uber is in the business of providing taxi services and engaged the drivers as workers to deliver its business. The drivers were engaged as workers for as long as they were in the territory in which they were authorised to work, they were signed into the Uber app and were ready and willing to accept bookings. This same period of time counted as working time under the WTR 1998 as well as the number of hours worked for the purposes of the national minimum wage provisions.  The tribunal’s decision was based on its interpretation of section 203(3) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and, in particular, its conclusion that the Uber drivers worked under a contract whereby they undertook “to do or perform personally work or services for another party to the contract [namely, Uber] whose status is not by virtue of the contract that of a client or customer…”

The tribunal’s decision means that, subject to any successful appeal by Uber, the Uber drivers are entitled to the rights afforded to workers by law, including:

• Protection from unlawful deductions from wages;

• Entitlement to receive the national living wage;

• Entitlement to paid annual holiday.

Uber has expressed an intention to appeal the tribunal’s decision.