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US Supreme Court rebuffs Uber, Lyft bid to avoid California chauffeur matches

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a difficulty by Uber and Lyft to lawsuits by the state of California on behalf of chauffeurs who signed arrangements to keep legal conflicts with the ridehailing business out of court in a legal battle over their status as professionals.

The justices turned away appeals by the two business of a. lower court's judgment that let the Democratic-led state's. attorney general of the United States and labor commissioner pursue claims that Uber. and Lyft owe money to chauffeurs who were misclassified as. independent specialists rather than workers.

The business have argued that federal law bars states from. suing on behalf of anybody who signed arrangements to bring legal. disputes in personal arbitration instead of court. That consists of. more than 60 million U.S. workers and virtually any consumer who. signs up with a subscription service, accepts a company's terms of. service or registers a product.

California submitted separate claims against the companies in. 2020. A state appeals court in 2023 ruled versus the companies. in their challenge to the claims. The California Supreme Court. consequently declined to hear their appeals.

California is one of a number of Democratic-led states that have. accused Uber and Lyft of depriving drivers of minimum wage,. overtime pay, repayments for costs and other protections. by identifying them as independent professionals. Most federal and. state wage laws use just to employees, making it more affordable. for business to employ professionals.

Uber, Lyft and other app-based services have denied that. they are companies of gig employees who might benefit from the. versatility of contracting.

The industry has actually advocated for state ballot steps. permitting companies to treat workers as specialists in exchange. for supplying specific benefits. California's top state court in. July maintained such a procedure backed by Uber and Lyft and. extremely approved by voters in the state in 2020.

Uber and Lyft in June accepted adopt a $32.50 per hour. minimum pay requirement for Massachusetts drivers and pay $175. million to settle a claim by the Democratic-led state's. attorney general alleging they improperly dealt with drivers as. independent specialists.

Uber and Lyft also have actually been taken legal action against by thousands of U.S. chauffeurs who have actually stated they ought to have been dealt with as. staff members. However few of those cases have yielded definitive. judgments and a lot of them have been sent to arbitration, considering that. most of the drivers for the business sign arbitration. contracts.

(source: Reuters)