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ARTICLE · 21 DECEMBER 2017

Are Uber drivers employees or independent contractors?

Cooper Grace Ward
Cooper Grace Ward
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Cooper Grace Ward

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It could be that the answer in Australia will be the same as the UK – i.e. that Uber's 'driver partners' are employees.

AustraliaEmployment and HR
Tony Park
Tony Park
Brady Cockburn
Brady Cockburn
Damian Hinkley
Damian Hinkley
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Uber now operates around the world and has annual revenue of about US$6.5 billion (and a valuation of about US$80 billion), in no small part thanks to the hundreds of thousands of people it calls its 'driver partners'. But are 'driver partners' employees or independent contractors?

Since its inception, Uber has operated throughout the western world on the premise its 'driver partners' are independent contractors. However, much to Uber's disappointment, there is an ever increasing list of authority suggesting that premise might be wrong.

The distinction really matters. In an article titled Are Uber Drivers Employees? The Answer Will Shape the Sharing Economy, Forbes Magazine last month described the issue as 'the one legal trouble that would fundamentally threaten its business model'.1 Essentially, this is because hiring workers as independent contractors instead of employees is much cheaper; only employees are entitled to minimum wages, overtime, leave,

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