Uber and Lyft agree to pay drivers $32.50 per hour in Massachusetts settlement

AP / ABC News ^ | 6/27/24 | STEVE LEBLANC

[TonyinLA]

BOSTON -- Drivers for Uber and Lyft will earn a minimum pay standard of $32.50 per hour under a settlement announced Thursday by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, in a deal that also includes a suite of benefits and protections.

The two companies will also be required to pay a combined $175 million to the state to resolve allegations that the companies violated Massachusetts wage and hour laws, a substantial majority of which will be distributed to current and former drivers. ... The companies were pushing a ballot question that would classify drivers as independent contractors eligible for some benefits, but Campbell said the settlement stops the threat of the ballot question.

[GenXPolymath]

Hitch is a similar USA intercity rode share app. Currently serving Texas Oklahoma and Florida you know the freedom states that allow for market capitalism to.meet a demand. Why take the bus when you can share a car with one or two background checked people going to the city you want to be in. Bonus is no TSA all up in your backhole two hours before a flight Hitch is door to door or very close to it.

[SPDSHDW]

If you are smart, and driving for uber/lyft as more then side cash, you’ll be an independent contractor s corp llc and deduct the entire thing. I know its possible through uber, i just don’t know the steps.

[freedomjusticeruleoflaw]

This effectively destroys Uber.

[freedomjusticeruleoflaw]

Exactly. Might as well call a cab or walk.

[dragnet2]

$32.50/hour isn’t as much as it seems for this kind of work. Suppose you are an Uber driver and you make a 20-mile one way trip with a passenger. If you drive at an average of 40 mph for this trip, you make the trip in 30 minutes. Your base pay is $16.25 for that 30 minutes. Meanwhile, you have to account for the fuel, maintenance and use of your vehicle. The current IRS allowable reimbursement rate for business use of a vehicle is 67 cents per mile, which means your average vehicle operating cost for that 20-mile trip is $13.40. And remember … you have to double this operating cost if you are making an empty return trip. This is why Uber and Lyft are basically sweatshops on wheels.

Bingo....Somebody gets it. Those drivers are used and spit out. Most find out real quick using their own vehicles is one big loser.

[Wuli]

“Not a bug, but part of the plan to remove nonunion competition.”

Very good point.