A federal district court in Washington state nixed Uber’s challenge to a Seattle law aimed at protecting gig workers from being randomly cut off from their jobs, rejecting the company’s claims of First Amendment violations.
The law requires companies to provide workers with deactivation policies, clearly stating what actions could lead to such decisions. The policies must be “reasonably related” to the entity’s “safe and efficient operation,” and the company must provide notice to the worker before deactivation and set up a process for these individuals to challenge the action. The law was set to come into effect on Jan. 1.
In its complaint, Uber argued that the ordinance violated the First Amendment by “compelling speech and failing to satisfy strict scrutiny.” The company argued that it was forced to “publicly embrace the City’s view on what is ‘safe and efficient,’ not what it believes is reasonable.”
The judge ruled that Uber was incorrect on this claim because the company is not compelled to define what is safe or efficient.
“The Court finds that the Ordinance’s requirements do little more than regulate conduct without any significant impact on speech or expression,” the ruling reads.
Uber’s second claim was that the ordinance restricted the company’s “expressive association rights,” referring to the right to associate with others to express beliefs and ideas.
The court dismissed this claim as well, saying that Uber’s association with app workers was “purely commercial” and that it failed to identify “any expressive association that it engages in.” The relationship between Uber and workers “mirrors that of employer and employee,” and “there is nothing expressive in this arrangement,” Pechman wrote.
The company made a third claim, that the ordinance is “unconstitutionally vague,” as it does not define what the terms “reasonably related” and “safe and efficient operations” mean. Pechman also rejected this claim.
“Uber fails to show how the ‘reasonably related’ language in the Ordinance somehow prevents it from understanding what types of deactivation policies would be prohibited,” she wrote.
Gig Work Complaints
App-based businesses have been involved in multiple complaints recently over worker issues.For instance, in Atlanta, Lyft stated that drivers could earn up to $33 per hour; in Portland, Oregon, that figure was $41; and in Los Angeles, $43. However, the company did not reveal that the amount “did not represent the income an average driver could expect to earn,” according to the FTC.
“[These numbers were] based on the earnings of the top one-fifth of drivers,” the agency stated. “The complaint notes that these figures overinflated the actual earnings achieved by most drivers by as much as 30 percent.”
Lyft stated that it agreed to settle the matter as the company recognizes the “importance of transparency in maintaining trust in the communities.”
The company also stated that it would take steps to ensure that what it says about driver earnings in its advertising “is clear.” In February 2024, Lyft became the “first and only” company to provide riders with payment guarantees it stated.
The CFPB called these actions deceptive practices that ended up costing drivers millions of dollars in junk fees overall. The agency is looking to stop these practices, recoup money, and fine the companies.
