Uber Technologies : and Lyft Must Classify Drivers as Employees, Appeals Court Says

By Preetika Rana

Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. are misclassifying their workers as independent contractors and need to treat them as employees according to state labor law, a California appeals court said Thursday, affirming a lower court ruling from August that threatened to upend the companies' business models.

Uber and Lyft would need to comply with the reclassification within 30 days of a formal ruling, which could take several weeks.

The companies, along with DoorDash Inc., Postmates Inc. and Instacart Inc., have raised more than $189 million for a ballot initiative on Nov. 3, asking that voters exempt them from such a reclassification. That result would supersede any court rulings.

(More to come.)

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-22-20 2147ET