Judges hold off on resolving Uber, Lyft labor cases

Two federal judges held off approving settlements on Thursday in landmark labor cases facing ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft.

Judge Edward M. Chen declined to issue a ruling on the $100 million settlement between Uber and California drivers who say they were misclassified as independent contractors rather than employees, who often receive more benefits and protections.

{mosads}Chen raised concerns that provisions in the deal shielding Uber from further legal liability might be too broad, according to Bloomberg. The settlement requires Uber to pay $84 million outright, and an additional $16 million if it goes public under certain conditions.

But some have accused the lawyer representing the drivers in the class action case of under-delivering for her clients while taking home what will be a multimillion-dollar fee. Critics of the deal say the drivers’ claims could have netted more than the potentially $100 million payout.

The settlement also doesn’t reclassify the drivers as employees, which some of criticized.

Lyft’s own settlement hearing in its case, also brought by lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordon, remains unapproved by a different judge, who rejected it earlier this year.

In response, the company had agreed to more than double the monetary payment in the settlement to $27 million. Judge Vince Chhabria decided not to rule on the settlement yet because he wanted to consider whether part of the funds should go to the plaintiffs in a different lawsuit, according to Reuters.

The question of whether drivers at companies like Uber and Lyft should be classified in a different way has dominated debate over the implications of what’s being called the on-demand economy. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) has pushed for additional safety net protections for workers at the companies, but so far as gained very little legislative traction.