Help

BI’s Article search uses Boolean search capabilities. If you are not familiar with these principles, here are some quick tips.

To search specifically for more than one word, put the search term in quotation marks. For example, “workers compensation”. This will limit your search to that combination of words.

To search for a combination of terms, use quotations and the & symbol. For example, “hurricane” & “loss”.

Login Register Subscribe

5. Uber establishes comp-like program for drivers

Reprints
5. Uber establishes comp-like program for drivers

Uber Technologies Inc. came under fire in 2018 on multiple fronts: accusations of racial bias, a now-rescinded policy of allegedly requiring sexual assault victims to sign confidentiality deals and the death of a woman killed by a self-driving Uber car in Arizona in March. But much of the criticism and some of the legal challenges surrounding the rideshare company in recent years relate to the classification of its drivers as independent contractors rather than employees and the lack of benefits associated with such relationships.

However, San Francisco-based Uber last year launched an insurance program to give its drivers access to Driver Injury Protection, offered through Aon PLC and OneBeacon Insurance Group, Brad Nail, Uber’s senior risk and public policy manager based in Washington, told the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ workers compensation task force at its summer meeting in Boston in August. Uber drivers are covered when they log onto the app, when they are en route to pick up passengers and when they are transporting passengers.

The program, which some experts have deemed workers comp-like, helps pay medical bills and replace normal earnings in case of an accident. The insurance policy covers accidental medical expenses up to $1 million and provides accidental disability benefits up to $500 per week, death benefits of up to $50,000 and survivor benefits up to $150,000.

But Uber makes it clear on the policy documents that this is not a workers comp policy, and Mr. Nail reiterated the company’s stance that Uber drivers are employees rather than independent contractors. In April, U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson ruled that limousine drivers for Uber are independent contractors and not the company’s employees under federal law because San Francisco-based Uber does not exert enough control over drivers for its limo service.

How tightly the gig company controls gig workers’ schedules and other aspects of their work is often a major factor in determining their employment status and benefits eligibility, experts say.

In the California federal court case Lawson v. Grubhub Inc. et al., a judge ruled in favor of Chicago-based Grubhub, an online and mobile food ordering company that allows users to receive deliveries from local restaurants, in April. Raef Lawson, a former Grubhub delivery driver, alleged he was an employee and should be compensated for unreimbursed expenses, while Grubhub argued that Mr. Lawson was an independent contractor. The judge ruled that since Grubhub did not control how Mr. Lawson made deliveries, his transportation, his appearance or his schedule, he was correctly classified by the gig-economy company as an independent contractor.

 

 

 

 

Read Next