End of the road for Uber...

Uber has lost its long running battle over the status of its drivers. The UK Supreme Court has held that drivers for the taxi hailing app are "workers" rather then self-employed contractors. The impact is huge not only for Uber but for many of the so-called gig economy companies and paves the way for thousands of workers to claim compensation and have ongoing access to certain rights including paid holidays and the minimum wage.

The case was first heard in 2016 and Uber has fought the original decision of the Employment Tribunal all the way up to the Supreme Court. The Court identified a number of key reasons for its decision including that Uber (i) sets the fare price, (ii) imposes contracts on its drivers, (iii) imposes penalities on drivers who decline too many trips, (iv) maintains control over drivers through thingsnsuch as the passenger rating system and (v) regulates the relationship between the driver and the passenger so as to ensure that it is limited to the single trip.

The tribunal will now determine the level of compensation for the 25 drivers that were actually involved in the case but the decision opens up the door for thousands of other individuals who work in the so-called gig economy,

View: Whilst Uber has played down the decision, pointing out that it only relates to a "small number of workers" who used the app in 2016, the impact is far wider. Gig economy companies have, for too long, been able to maintain their competitive advantage over more traditional business models by attempting to structure their business in a way that side steps various regulatory provisions. Whilst the decision does not mean that all individuals working in the gig economy will be workers, it does provide a basis upon which to build and seek some protection and benefits. It is unfortunate that countries around the world have failed to find a uniform approach to the classification of gig economy workers (the US in particular recently sided with Uber) but this decision is a welcome move in the right direction.