California’s supreme court has upheld a landmark ruling that permits gig economy companies to treat workers as independent contractors, in a long-awaited decision that comes as a big victory for the likes of Uber. The decision from the state’s highest court is a significant blow to the labour rights groups that have sought for years to overturn a controversial law known as Proposition 22.
Such a change would “incur significant additional expenses” and would be likely to result in “significant price increases for riders”, said Uber in May. Gig economy companies also argued that such a change could have led to drivers and couriers leaving the platforms, since they would have been bound by strict work contracts and would no longer have the flexibility to work whenever they wanted to.