Friday, December 18, 2015

Federal Judge Admonishes Uber

I have never been admonished by a federal judge.
I did however, once meet a guy who had been told "You have bammed your last boozle"
From ars technica:

Judge knocks Uber over latest attempt to bar drivers from class-actions
Hours-long hearing marks latest chapter in class-action suit, O'Connor v. Uber.
SAN FRANCISCO—On Thursday, a federal judge admonished Uber over its questionable newly issued labor agreement. He also ruled that the new agreement does not affect members of the certified class of California drivers who are currently suing Uber over whether they should be considered employees.

Uber’s lawyer, Theodore Boutrous, said the company believed it was within its right to suddenly send out the new document last Friday, which drivers had to agree to in order to continue driving for the company.

"Whatever your intent, I'm going to tell you my intent, I had no intent to say go ahead and issue notices," US District Court Judge Edward Chen said during the hearing in O'Connor v. Uber, which was over two hours long.

The new agreement pushed drivers to waive their right to sue the company or join class-action lawsuits in the event of a labor dispute in favor of private arbitration, which almost always favors corporations. The document did give drivers the ability to opt out within 30 days, but required that they specifically e-mail Uber to do so....MORE