London: for Uber, “it’s end of a form of irresponsibility”

It could be completed entire libraries on the issue of intermediaries. Can those who connect two people to wash the hands of what happened after? Old, like the world, this question takes over a spectacular vigor with the Internet and its platforms. Facebook is he responsible for what is written on his site and uber the behavior of his drivers?

Yes, just answered the UK British Court of Justice in a judgment made on Monday that should do date. Uber is not an agent, she says. The company is responsible for the service provided to the customer and the quality of the service. She must sign a contract with the passenger, not just with the driver. The implications of this decision are considerable for Uber and beyond for all those on the Internet, dream in simple intermediaries.

Social protection

It was the Californian society that he seized this jurisdiction after suffering a first affront in February 2021 when the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom had decreed that the drivers who worked on his platform had to be considered as “workers” (workers) and not as independents. Which meant that the firm had to provide them with a minimum wage (even without a race), leave and social protection. The court decision of this Monday drives the nail. Well beyond the only fate of American society.

First consequence, if it is in contract with passengers, the drivers are his employees, even if they are not necessarily salaried. This therefore confirms the need for particular social protection and gives a legal point of support to all London drivers and not just those of Uber to demand new rights. Because the decision also calls for some 1,832 private transport operators operating in London with independents.

The second consequence could be the tax liability, such as any transportation company. Paradoxically, Uber’s legal activism, which has been attending the courts for almost a decade, is leading around the world to an increasingly accurate definition of its relationship with its partners and clients. At the risk of compromising an already fragile economic model. This decision does not sound the gla of the platform economy but the end of a form of irresponsibility. Finally, the beginning of the end, can we hope.

/Media reports.