Sydney (Australia), August 26 (EFECOM).- The New Zealand Court of Appeal recognized this Monday the drivers of the Uber transport service as employees of the company, which could lead to changes in labor relations in the economy of the Oceanic country.
The ruling upheld a New Zealand Labor Court decision issued in October 2022 in which four Uber drivers claimed rights under New Zealand law to minimum wages, sick leave, retirement, among other things.
Uber appealed that ruling in June last year, but judges at the Court of Appeal this Monday rejected the US company’s legal appeal and ordered it to pay the plaintiffs’ legal costs, according to a 76-page ruling published today. Judicial Portal.
The three-judge panel said, “The true nature of the relationship between the four drivers and Uber is that the drivers were employees of Uber at the time they were connected to the Uber app.”
“(The drivers) were not operating their own transportation service businesses during those periods,” today’s ruling underscores.
For its part, Uber promised not to change its operations in New Zealand as a result of the decision, and announced it would take the case to the high court, the maritime nation’s highest judicial body, according to the New Zealand Herald newspaper. .
The company has about 700 drivers in New Zealand, where Conservative Christopher Lacson’s government is reviewing labor laws to make it clear that a contractor does not have the full rights of a regular employee to sign a contract. EFECOM
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