Attorney General Maura Healey is suing Uber and Lyft, asking the courts to declare that drivers are employees of transportation technology giants, rather than independent contractors, a lawsuit that companies promise to fight.
“Uber and Lyft have had a free ride for far too long,” Healey insisted at a virtual press conference Tuesday, announcing the lawsuit in Suffolk Superior Court. “These drivers are employed under Massachusetts law.”
The AG said it is seeking a court order that the drivers of the ridesharing companies are employees, rather than contractors, and considered that drivers have the rights that normal employees have, such as the minimum wage, the payment of hours. extras, sick leave and benefits.
If that was the case, the ride-sharing giants would also have to pay for unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation, Healey said.
“Without their drivers, Uber and Lyft would not exist,” Healey said. The lawsuit seeks that the court issue a court order requiring companies to classify drivers as employees.
Healey said estimates had been that there were 200,000 Uber and Lyft drivers in the state, although that number may have decreased under the pandemic.
California, where Uber and Lyft are located, has filed a similar lawsuit.
The organizations, called transportation network companies, or TNC, immediately criticized the movement and promised to fight it.
“At a time when the Massachusetts economy is in crisis with a record unemployment rate of 16%, we need to make it easier, not harder, for people to start earning income quickly,” said an Uber spokeswoman at a statement. “We are going to challenge this action in court because it goes against what the vast majority of drivers want: to work independently.”
And a Lyft spokesperson said: “This lawsuit threatens to cut the jobs of more than 50,000 people in Massachusetts at the worst possible time. Drivers don’t want this: 89% of Massachusetts Lyft drivers drive less than 20 hours per week and choose to share the ride precisely because of the independence it gives them to earn money in their spare time. “
Felipe Martinez, head of the two-year Boston Independent Drivers Guild. He appeared at the virtual press conference with Healey, saying, “When I started driving, I believed the lie, I thought I was my own independent contractor with my own business. But Uber and Lyft controlled how much they paid me, where I drove, and changed terms and conditions when they wanted to. “
