SAN FRANCISCO – It's back to the negotiating table for Uber and its drivers who say they should be treated as full-time employees.
On Sept. 25, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit of California ruled to reverse the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California's decision that denied Uber's request for an arbitration in a class-action suit filed against the company.
"The panel reversed the district court’s denial of Uber Technologies Inc.’s motions to compel arbitration, reversed the district court’s class certification orders, and reversed as moot and without foundation the district court’s Fed. R. Civ.P. 23(d) orders in several putative class actions brought by current and former Uber drivers alleging violations of various federal and state statutes a rising from Uber’s classification of drivers as independent contractors rather than employees," the opinion states.
The opinion read in part, "because the arbitration agreements are enforceable, the district court’s class certification orders in O’Connor must also be reversed."
Douglas O'Connor is one of several Uber drivers who filed suit in 2013 against the company. The class-action filings allege that Uber violated various federal and state statutes by, "among other things, misclassifying drivers as independent contractors rather than employees," the ruling states.
More than one dozen lawsuits were filed against Uber in California courts alone. In addition to the Appeals Court ruling that an arbitrator can hear the cases, each case filed will now be heard individually in courts.
"The class certification orders must be reversed because they were premised upon the district court’s conclusion that the arbitration agreements were not enforceable," the opinion states.
The cases were consolidated in 2015 for appeal and supplemental consolidated briefing was ordered and received, according to the ruling. Drivers alleged that in Uber's classification of drivers as independent contractors and not full-time employees, the company failed to pay business expenses such as vehicles, gas and maintenance, which in the state of California, violates California Labor Code.
In 2015, shortly after some of the class-action lawsuits were filed, Uber issued a new arbitration agreement to all of its drivers.