Uber faces lawsuit after banning food delivery drivers 'unfairly'

Uber faces lawsuit after banning food delivery drivers ‘unfairly’

Adelaide, AU — Two former UberEATS drivers filed a lawsuit against Uber on Monday claiming that their dismissal from the app was ‘unfair’.

According to one of the drivers, Amita Gupta, the rideshare company only paid her AU$300 for 96 hours of work. Moreover, when she once arrived 10 minutes late for a delivery, her access to the app was blocked. Uber ultimately constituted a dismissal.

Furthermore, the lawsuit is an appeal to the Fair Work Commission’s decision last month. The Commission’s decision found that the drivers were independent contractors, not employees.

“I do not consider that Ms Gupta was an employee for the purposes of s.382 of the FW Act at the time of ending of the relationship, or more generally, and was not a person protected from unfair dismissal,” Commissioner Hampton wrote. “As a result, the unfair dismissal application does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Commission.”

Mrs. Gupta, along with the Transport Workers’ Union, argues that the Commission’s decision is wrong.

“We believe there are strong grounds to appeal it,” TWU secretary Michael Kaine says. “Uber Eats is deliberately misclassifying its workers, calling them independent contractors. So they can deny them rights, deny them superannuation, deny them the rights to leave.”

Moreover, Mr. Kaine claims that the decision was in relation to “flawed” laws. The government should instead create a working group to amend legislation and protect gig-economy workers from exploitation.

On 17 July, Uber Eats pledged to amend its “unfair” contract terms. The new terms, instead, would hold restaurants responsible for damage to meals or errors that happened during delivery.