Uber has paid $100 million in fines and taxes in New Jersey. It does so because nearly 300,000 drivers are self-employed and thus miss many social benefits.
Uber’s model has been under fire for a while. In principle, drivers are not employees of Uber, but various courts have already ruled differently and stated that Uber avoids taxes and social obligations in this way.
The amount that Uber now has to cough up consists of $78 million in unpaid contributions with interest. In addition, it concerns a fine of 22 million dollars;
This case concerns an audit of activities between 2014 and 2018, in which a US government agency determined that the rules had been violated. It points out that an employee who functions as an independent contractor loses those rights such as minimum wage, overtime, unemployment benefits and other benefits.
The US government agency for worker protection is strict with Uber. It argues that such companies erode social protection. As Uber once argued, such systems give employees more flexibility is a misrepresentation of the facts.
