Uber targeted by Paris over self-employed status of drivers
Uber has found itself the target of further legal challenges in France after the official body that collects social security contributions moved to force the company to reclassify its drivers as employees.
The Urssaf for Paris and surrounding areas has launched two separate challenges to the California-based company, arguing that it has avoided paying millions of euros in employee-related charges because it has not registered its drivers as employees.
Jean-Marie Guerra, director of enforcement at Acoss, part of the country’s social security network, said that Uber owed “several million euros” to the social security system, according to comments to AFP, the news agency.
He added that the Urssaf had taken the case to the country’s social security affairs tribunal to have the company reclassify its drivers as employees — a move that would force Uber to pay millions in employer contributions.
Mr Guerra told the AFP that Urssaf had also begun criminal proceedings with the Paris prosecutor against the company for alleged abuse of status.
On Tuesday, Uber acknowledged the proceedings, which were launched at the end of last year.
Insisting that the overwhelming majority of drivers in France opt to become self-employed “precisely to be able to work independently”, Uber said: “We are therefore strongly challenging the accuracy and validity of these procedures, but we shall leave it up to the courts to decide.”
The company added that a decision against it would have far-reaching consequences for the entire ride-hailing sector given that the majority of taxi drivers are classified as independent.
Uber said that in several recent cases, France’s leading courts of appeal have refused to reclassify independent taxi drivers as employees.
The latest legal challenges, which could take more than five years to work their way through the country’s legal system, add to Uber’s significant problems in France, its biggest market in terms of revenues outside the US.
Thibaud Simphal, who heads Uber’s operations in France, and Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, head of Uber in Western Europe, stood trial in February on charges of “misleading commercial practices” and “complicity in the illegal exercise of the taxi profession”. A verdict is expected on June 9.
In January, the company was ordered to pay €1.2m to the National Union of Taxis for failing to enforce an aspect of a 2014 law governing minicab services.
The payment came after complaints that drivers using the app were not returning to their bases between rides, as required by law. Uber has appealed the fine.
The company has long insisted that its drivers, regardless of jurisdiction, are independent contractors, not employees. But that view has been challenged in court, and Uber recently reached a combined $100m settlement in class-action lawsuits in California and Massachusetts.
The agreement maintained the drivers were independent contractors but gave them the right to organise into associations that will be able to meet with Uber management.
Earlier this month, Uber and the Machinists Union reached an agreement in New York City under which all Uber drivers in the city will be able to join the newly-formed Independent Drivers Guild.
The guild, which is affiliated with the Machinists Union, will provide them with benefits, including regular meetings with management and representation if they are terminated.
However, it stops short of being a full union, and drivers who are members would still be considered independent contractors of Uber, a status that means they are not eligible for collective bargaining rights.