Chapter 6 - Transportation Network Companies: A Case-Based Analysis

Summary

Currently, transportation network companies are one of the most established examples of on-demand work platforms in the e-market. Uber, along with its direct and specialized competitors Lyft, Didi Chuxing, and Ola Cabs, have recruited hundreds of thousands of drivers, have supplied them with service requests, and have managed the transportation of a large number of passengers across the world.

Similar to other online platforms, transportation network platforms selfidentify their business under the label of intermediary information society services, which essentially consists of connecting two sides of the market: drivers and riders. This model has faced regulatory challenges both in the United States and in European countries. At the present moment, one of the main disputes regarding transportation network companies relates to their workforces and the way different countries address the legal perception and conditions of an employment relationship.

In that regard, litigation faced by transportation network companies may shape how they develop their activities and manage their workforce across countries. Notwithstanding the fact that labor law is traditionally a national matter, global transportation network companies have created similar labor challenges in several countries almost simultaneously – notably the alleged misclassifi cation of their driver contracts.

This chapter explores the legal consequences workers face when transportation network companies outsource their main service – transportation – to contractors/self-employed workers. Even though other transportation network companies have faced lawsuits regarding the misclassifi cation of their workforce, this chapter focuses on Uber, considering its global reach and its representativeness in the sector in European countries and in the United States. The Uber model opened up long debates about sharing economies as one of the economic forces of the twenty-fi rst century and the hurdles of regulating it. The way the platform is structured gave rise to the word “uberization” to either indicate a certain business model or the degradation of a certain workforce's rights. The platform practices also made courts in several countries deal with the question of whether Uber provides a transportation or information society service. The company has faced massive litigation so far due to its ambiguous identity in several sectors1357 and particularly regarding the status of its main workforce as independent contractors.