In the Uber suit, drivers who have joined Uber since June 2014 are excluded from the class because of the arbitration agreement they signed.
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The lawyer behind them, Shannon Liss-Riordan, is no stranger to this debate that’s plagued the on-demand startup scene. Liss-Riordan is also pursuing class action lawsuits over independent contractor classification against Uber, Lyft, and Postmates.
On Wednesday, class-action complaints were filed against on-demand food delivery companies DoorDash and GrubHub in California state court, alleging that the drivers should not be considered independent contractors, as their companies have deemed them, but official employees.
The suits against the on-demand food delivery services mark the next chapter in an ongoing battle between sharing-economy companies and some of the people who act as their laborers.
According to one of the complaints, GrubHub treated its delivery drivers as employees but failed to provide any of the benefits – such as expense reimbursements for gas, parking and phone data, meeting minimum wage requirements, and paying drivers for overtime. On the other, startups like Sprig, Shyp, Instacart and Munchery have made a decision to classify their delivery drivers and other workers as full-time employees instead of contract workers.
Caviar and DoorDash did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Caviar complaint is a little different in that Liss-Riordan represents only one San Francisco driver.
“We’re getting calls all the time, we’re sorting through complaints”, said Liss-Riordan.
Liss-Riordan said this practice isn’t uncommon.
Many startups in the on-demand economy, including heavyweights like Uber, rely on an independent contractor workforce to fuel their business, although that’s something Liss-Riordan would love to change. The lawsuits against DoorDash and GrubHub are class action suits; all three, it seems, were filed in San Francisco.
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“[Some] have denied it has anything to do with lawsuits, but you know the legal consideration must have been affecting them”.
