After a 6 year battle in the Supreme Court and multiple appeals, Uber eventually lost the landmark case and has now classified Uber drivers as workers.
Why was Uber taken to Court?
In 2016, former Uber drivers submitted a claim to the employment tribunal questioning their employment status. They claimed that they should be classed as workers and should therefore receive the national minimum wage and paid annual leave.
Uber argued that as self employed independent contractors they where under no obligation to provide its drivers ‘partners’ with any workers rights what so ever.
The employment tribunal sided with the drivers which meant that they had to be classified as employees and thus receive all the worker benefits.
Uber continued to appeal, losing at every stage until 2020 when their final appeal was heard by the supreme court who upheld the decision to class Uber drivers as workers.
Where all Uber Drivers in Favor of the Ruling?
In all honesty I was never a supporter of the claimants as I felt that they were blaming the Uber platform for their inability to make a living in the gig economy.
I have always been satisfied with the deal and knew exactly what I was getting into when I started and didn’t want anything to rock the boat.
When I left my secure well paid, stress free full time job, I knew as a gig worker that I’d be giving up all the benefits an employee enjoys.
Gone where the job security
Gone where the 25 days a year fully paid holiday.
Gone was the guaranteed wages at the end of every month
Gone was the 38 hour work week
Gone was the pension
Gone in fact was the easy life.
What I was gaining though was freedom. Freedom to do what I wanted when I wanted which at that point in my life, is what took president over everything else.
My thinking, which seemed to be the same as all the other Private Hire Drivers I spoke to, was that becoming an employee of Uber would inevitably lead to more control by ‘The Boss’ and a complete loss of autonomy we all entered this gig for.
As I enter my second year as an Uber driver, I can honestly say that I have never regretted my decision to become a self employed private hire driver.
Even through the struggle of the pandemic and a whole year of working 7 days a week for very little money, I still felt like I had made the correct decision.
As we slowly start to emerge from the chaos of Covid, it seems like the hard work is finally paying off. Although I had my reservations about the court case I have to admit that it has worked out better than I could have expected as we are now be classified as workers and get enjoy all the benefits that come along with that title.
How are Uber Drivers Effected Now they are Classified as Workers?
Uber drivers are still self employed but are now also classed as employees.
We can still work autonomously, be our own boss, run our business as we please and therefore are responsible to pay our own taxes. In fact nothing has changed at all apart from being given all the benefits of being an employee on top of the benefit of being self employed.
It is still very confusing to me the fact that Uber drivers now, are self employed employees. It’s a unique situation that thankfully Uber drivers now find themselves in.
In a time where nurses in England have been told to expect a pay rise of only 1% after working tirelessly in unprecedented conditions to keep our country alive, I feel extremely grateful to be rewarded with a weekly bump in pay and other benefits for doing nothing more than I was doing before.
What benefits will Uber drivers get now they are classified as workers?
Earnings Guarantee
This sound great in principle, but in reality, is something that has been put into place to appease the law makers.
Uber have a complex way of calculating the payment and is set up in a way that you will never be able to earn less than the minimum wage so thankfully, this isn’t a payment we will ever see.
If you are earning less that the minimum wage as an Uber driver then its probably time to hang up the keys anyway.
Holiday Pay
Holiday pay is actually now paid weekly on a Thursday based on what you earned the previous week. This means that the more money you earn one week, the more your weekly bonus will be the next.
I’m not sure if it was set up on purpose this way to keep you incentivised to drive more for Uber but what it has meant is that I predominately now earn most of my money on the Uber platform to increase the amount of Holiday pay I will receive.
Lets take last week for example.
I earned £1062.91 with Uber which resulted in additional £92.47 worth of holiday pay to be paid the week after. Below are all the metrics used by Uber to calculate this payment.
As you can see, trying to work out your weekly holiday pay using Ubers equation is as hard as trying to work out Einsteins theory of relativity using E=mc2, and equally confusing.
As a rough guide it generally works out between 8 and 9 percent of that weeks earnings if your looking to quickly work out what to expect in holiday pay for the next week.
Based on last week, if we use the Appdriver equation of 8.5% of £1062.91 we get a figure of £90.35. As you can see its not the exact figure of £92.47 that I was actually paid but it was close enough for me and a lot easier and quicker than taking a 4 year Maths degree needed to be able to use Ubers complex equation.
Pension Scheme
One of the biggest draw backs of working as a self employed Uber driver in the gig economy apart from having no paid leave has always been the lack of future security for your retirement.
Well now, that concern has also been answered with the Uber pension scheme.
This is a workplace pension which is arranged by Uber who will also make a contribution of 3% which will top up your 5% to 8%.
As with all workplace pensions, you can choose to opt out.
If your not looking to invest this money else where and haven’t jumped on board of the crypto craze just yet, its an opportunity to save for your retirement in a way that wasn’t previously available to you.
How has the Transition worked out for Drivers?
As I previously mentioned, the transition was flawless and went better than I could have ever envisioned. Despite my initial reservations, everything has worked out in favor of the drivers which is rarely the case when there is a major overhaul in the way a business is run.
Not only are we getting a substantial pay rise in the form of weekly holiday pay, being enrolled into a company pension scheme and allowed more freedom than ever before to run our business as we please. We where also given a large lump sump of money as a one of payment at the start of the transition to employees.
In my opinion, at least since I’ve been in the business, there has never been a better time to be an Uber driver. You can now be your own boss and earn a good living while also receiving the benefits of an employee which can only be a win win in my eyes.
