Ride-haling companies, Uber and Lyft, have had to pay a huge price for wage theft. The two firms were accused of charging their drivers unfairly for sales tax and other fees when the amount should actually have been charged to their customers. As a result, Uber will have to cough up $29 million, while Lyft will have to pay $38 million in wage theft. The total amount will be disbursed to their existing and ex drivers, covering back pay as well as other benefits, including paid sick leave.
The firms had been accused of depriving their drivers of a huge amount of money over the years, which the drivers should have been paid in terms of wages and benefits. To be precise, during the period 2014 to 2017, the two ride-hailing firms had deducted sales tax as well as Black Car Fund fees from the wages of drivers, violating laws that required them to charge the same to passengers.
When this issue was brought to their notice, the two entitites managed to wrongfully convince the drivers by providing wrong information. Uber even assured its drivers that it would be minusing only its own commission from the drivers’ fares and that the drivers were free to charge their passengers any other fee they require, including taxes and toll fee. What made this violation more serious was that there was no provision in the company’s app for the drivers to charge the same.
Additionally, both Uber and Lyft will now be granting paid sick leave to their drivers outside New York City, while the drivers within New York City will henceforth enjoy an hourly wage of $26. The two firms had earlier deprived the drivers of paid sick leave, which was available only to the drivers in NewYork City.
