Winter 2022
The number one question that is often asked of RDU is, “What is happening with our wage claims?” For drivers who have been with us for a while, and others who may have joined more recently, we wanted to take the time to rewind and give a quick breakdown of what the wage claims campaign is, and where the current Attorney General and Labor commissioner lawsuits are now
In the fall of 2019, drivers from all over California worked together to push for real reform for the rideshare Industry – California Assembly Bill 5 (AB5).
AB5 closed the loophole that Lyft and Uber were using to misclassify drivers as independent contractors while denying us true independence. AB5 would force them to give us the benefits of labor rights & protections by classifying drivers as employees since they were treating us like employees anyway.
As an effort to get the state to enforce the new law and get back money owed to them by the companies, an unprecedented 5,000+ RDU drivers filed wage claims with the CA Labor Commission for stolen wages, unpaid overtime, sick days, and vehicle expenses under California law, claiming in total over $1.2 billion in stolen wages and damages. In August of 2020, the Labor Commission, along with the California Attorney General and three California cities (San Francisco, LA, and San Diego) sued Lyft & Uber for “committing wage theft by willfully misclassifying drivers as independent contractors instead of employees.” Those entities are seeking to recover the losses on behalf of ALL DRIVERS in California - and all drivers that drove up to four years before those suits are covered by those suits. Our individual claims got wrapped up into that suit.
This is not a class-action suit. Regardless of where you live now, whether or not you’re still driving for Lyft and/or Uber, you will be entitled to your stolen compensation if you were driving for any length of time between late 2016 to December 2020.
From the time the lawsuits were filed, Uber & Lyft have used every delay tactic in the book to try and derail the cases against them; claiming that Prop 22 superseded AB5, that the state, like drivers, were bound by manditory arbitration, and appealing nearly every ruling the judge has made. Although these delays have dragged the process out considerably, they have not stopped the cases from moving forward.
The cases are still active and are a huge part of RDU’s ongoing campaign to get back what is owed to all drivers, and hold the companies accountable for exploiting us all. If you want to learn more, we encourage you to check the Superior Court of California’s website for the most up-to-date legal filings and RDU’s wage claim campaign webpage for future updates.
