Uber, Lyft agree to spice up wages, shell out $175M to settle lawsuit introduced by state

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Uber and Lyft reached a $175 million settlement with Lawyer Normal Andrea Campbell’s workplace to resolve a multi-year lawsuit that focused the classification standing of drivers working for the 2 corporations, in accordance with a press release launched Thursday afternoon.

The settlement, which Campbell pitched as “nation-leading,” will see Uber and Lyft agree to boost their minimal pay to $32.50 per hour, supply a “suite of benefits and protections for drivers,” and successfully finish their monetary backing of a poll query push on the matter in Massachusetts.

“For years, these companies have underpaid their drivers and denied them basic benefits. Today’s agreement holds Uber and Lyft accountable, and provides their drivers, for the very first time in Massachusetts, guaranteed minimum pay, paid sick leave, occupational accident insurance, and health care stipends,” Campbell stated in a press release.

The case has performed out over the previous month in Suffolk County Superior Courtroom and was first filed by then-Lawyer Normal Maura Healey in 2020, who argued the 2 corporations violated state labor and employment legal guidelines for years by defining drivers as unbiased contractors.

Uber Chief Authorized Officer Tony West stated the settlement provides drivers “access to new protections and benefits, including the nation’s first portable health insurance benefit fund, while preserving their ability to work independently.”

“In taking this opportunity, we’ve resolved historical liabilities by constructing a new operating model that balances both flexibility and benefits. This allows both Uber and Massachusetts to move forward in a way that reflects what drivers want and demonstrates to other states what’s possible to achieve,” West stated in a press release.

The settlement upends what had already grow to be an costly poll query combat that noticed each corporations push ahead a number of variations of a query that categorised drivers as unbiased contractors who can be entitled to some advantages.

Proposals backed by the industry-supported Flexibility and Advantages for Massachusetts Drivers marketing campaign survived a authorized problem solely hours earlier than Campbell introduced the settlement, with the Supreme Judicial Courtroom ruling all 5 variations of the query had been constitutionally sound.

If a poll query does handle to cross in November with out Uber and Lyft’s monetary assist, each corporations agreed to abide by the phrases of the settlement, in accordance with prosecutors with Campbell’s workplace.

Lyft Government Vice President of Driver Expertise Jeremy Chicken stated the settlement is a “huge win for Massachusetts drivers” and “avoids the need for a ballot initiative campaign on this issue in November.”

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